Modern H 



.POCHS OF IVIODERN OISTORY 

EDITED BY 

C. COLBECK, M. A. 



The ENGLISH RESTORA TIONand L O UIS XIV. 



OSMUND AIRY, M. A. 



EPOCHS OF ANCIENT HISTORY. 

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GERMANY 

Shewing the Territorial Provisions 
of the Peace of Westphalia,. 



3 648, 




EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY 



THE 



ENGLISH RESTORATION 

AND 

LOUIS XIV. 

FROM THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA 
TO THE PEACE OF NIMWEGEN 



BY 

OSMUND AIRY, M. A. 

ONE OF H ,M. INSPECTORS OF SCHOOLS 

EDITOR OF THE ' LAUDERDALE PAPERS* 

:ORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE SCOTTISH 

HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



WITH THREE MAPS 

NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1898 



GERMANY 

Shewing the Territorial Provisions, 
of the Peace of Westp hal ia, 

164&r 




EXPLANATION. 

Ceded to Brandenburg: 

Eastern Pomerania, Magde- 
burg, Halberstadt , Minden. 

Ceded to Elector of Saxony: 
I.usatia. 

Ceded to France: 
Metz, Tout, Verdun (Already 
Fiench, now formally ceded) , Al- 
lace, to far as belonyiny tu Aus- 
tria, Breisach, Phitipsbury. 

Ceded to Sweden: 

Western Pomerania, I.qfSugfn, 
Bishoprics of Bremen and i'er- 
den, town of Wismar. 

Ceded to Brunswick: 
Bishopric of Osnabruck. 

Ceded to Ba 

Upper Palatinate. 

Ceded to Mecklenburg: 
Schwerin, Ratzeburg. 

Acknowledged as independent. 
United Netherlands, k'witur- 



EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY 



THE 

ENGLISH RESTORATION 

AND 

LOUIS XIV. 

FROM THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA 
TO THE PEACE OF NIMWEGEN 



BY 

OSMUND AIRY, M. A. 

ONE OF H .M. INSPECTORS OF SCHOOLS 

EDITOR OF THE ' LAUDERDALE PAPERS* 

;ORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE SCOTTISH 

HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



WITH THREE MAPS 

NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

189b 






or 



Press of Wm. F. Fell & Co., 
1220-24 Sansom St., 

PHILAOELPHiA. 



PREFACE 



The epoch of European history with which I have 
here attempted to deal is an epoch of Restorations ; 
Restorations which assume widely differing forms, in 
correspondence with the varying circumstances of 
the countries in which they take place. 

In France, after a period of fierce internal strife, 
during which all antagonistic influences exhaust 
themselves in a vain struggle with the tenacious 
purpose of Mazarin, and sink into helplessness, the 
triumphant monarchy emerges as a despotism of an 
almost oriental type. That despotism is conferred 
upon a Prince of great capacity and of boundless 
ambition, with all the instruments of ambition ready 
to his hand. 

In England, a different scene is witnessed. The 
revolution had overthrown three great institutions, 
the Monarchy, the Parliament, and the Church. All 
three are now restored, under the old forms; the 
Parliament first, and then in natural sequence the 
Monarchy and the Church. And when the settlement 
is complete, it is seen that the first and the last have 
gained immensely, and that what they have gained 



vi Preface. 

the Crown has lost. Acting in strict harmony, the 
Parliament and the Church assume towards the King 
a dictatorial attitude ; and from their dictation he 
partially escapes by a gradually deepening subser- 
vience to Louis XIV. — a subservience rendered easy 
from the fact that Parliament has as yet no direct 
control upon foreign policy. 

The union of the two monarchs leads to a third 
restoration, that of William of Orange. By the 
combined attack of France and England, the United 
Provinces are brought to the brink of destruction. 
They escape from the peril by throwing off a con- 
stitution ill adapted for confronting immediate 
national peril, and by placing once more the execu- 
tive power, though with many limitations, in the 
hands of a single man, the representative of the 
house under whom independence had been won. 

The treatment of this period, in a form as con- 
densed as is required by the plan of the series, has 
been rendered difficult by two facts. It is in the 
first place a period of incessant diplomatic intrigue, 
on the part of every ruler concerned ; and all diplo- 
macy is secret and personal. And thus, while 
avoidance of detail is a prime object, details of which 
many seem, not merely important, but essential to a 
clear understanding of the story, press in on every 



Preface. vii 

side to an extent scarcely to be appreciated by any 
one who has not somewhat attentively considered 
the subject. 

There is secondly the fact that, in England at 
least, there are no great figures around whom interest 
and sympathies may gather. No prominent politician 
acts from a great motive — no one, after the fall of 
Clarendon, even from an honest or unselfish motive 
— and no one seems to live in the open light of 
day There is no great cause definitely present to 
men's minds to strengthen the moral fibre, wearied 
with the tension of twenty years. The Parliament is 
possessed by vague wants and vaguer terrors ; it dis- 
plays a low moral sense, and is ruled by a spirit of 
unreason, though by the very law of its being it half 
unconsciously feels its way towards the goal of 1689. 
The character and purposes of the King, his detest- 
able private example, the influence of his mistresses, 
the potency of back-stairs intrigue, afford the oppor- 
tunity for all who unite ambition and capacity with 
cunning, frivolity, or shamelessness, to come to the 
front and to prosper. 

In writing the chapters devoted to the Fronde, I 
have drawn largely from the ' Histoire de France 
pendant la Minorite de Louis XIV.' and the 'His- 
toire de France sous le Ministere de Mazarin,' of 



viii Preface. 

M. Cheruel, which from the impartial and exhaustive 
use displayed by the writer of authorities previously 
unknown or neglected must be held to supersede 
former works on the subject. The voluminousness, 
however, the abundance of detail, and the somewhat 
provoking looseness of the arrangement of these 
volumes, render the conception of persons and events 
in their due proportions a matter of the utmost 
difficulty. The 4 Histoire de France ' of M. Henri 
Martin, and especially the ' Franzosische Geschichte' 
of Professor Ranke, have been constantly referred 
to, to lessen this difficulty; while in one or two 
instances I have been aided by Dr. Kitchin's 'History 
of France ' and Mr. Perkins's ' France under 
Richelieu and Mazarin.' 

For the part played by Louis XIV. outside France 
during the years 1 660-1 678 I have relied principally 
upon M. Mignet's ' Negociations relatives a la Suc- 
cession d'Espagne,' supplemented, on all questions 
regarding the connection between Louis XIV. and 
Charles II., by Ranke's ' History of England prin- 
cipally in the 17th century ;' while with respect to 
the Dutch Republic, my chief authority has been 
the 'Jean de Witt' of M. Pontalis. Macgregor's 
' Holland and the Dutch Colonies ' has also been 
found useful in enabling me to give a brief descrip- 



Preface. ix 

tion of the commercial supremacy of the Dutch. 
The Parliamentary debates, as recorded in Vol. IV. 
of the ' Parliamentary History/ have of course been 
indispensable in questions of home politics ; while a 
few facts of interest and importance are drawn from 
the inspection of original documents, such as the 
Essex and Sheldon papers, which have not yet been 
printed. 

The plan of the series does not admit of reference 
to authorities. This requires mention, as not only 
the statements, but possibly here and there the actual 
phrases, of the writers who have been consulted may 
be noticed. 

I regret that the assigned limits have forbidden 
the introduction of an account of Scotland during 
the period, or of the remarkable scope and activity 
of English commercial enterprise. 

In conclusion, I wish to acknowledge two personal 
obligations: to Mr. S. R. Gardiner, who in the midst 
of his own labours has found time, now and con- 
tinuously during several years, to give advice and 
ungrudging assistance to one who is but a novice in 
the craft of which he is a master ; and to my friend 
Mr. W. L. Sargant, who has aided me with the 
revision of the proof sheets throughout the book. 

OSMUND AIRY. 

Birmingham, October 2, 1888. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA. 

PAGE 

General Effect — Germany — France — Sweden — Spain — 
Summary I 

CHAPTER II. 

PRELUDE TO THE FRONDE. 

Richelieu and Privilege — Mazarin and the Reaction — The 
Prince of Conde - Encroachments of the Parlement — 
The English Rebellion and the Fronde 9 

CHAPTER III. 

THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 

Concessions of the Court — Beginning of Revolution — The 
Cardinal de Retz — Measures of Mazarin — Mazarin and 
Cond6 — Beginning of Civil War — The Twelve Weeks' 
War 33 

CHATTER IV. 

THE NEW FRONDE. 

Defecti™ of Conde — The Fronde in the Provinces ... 51 
CHAPTER V. 

THE REBELLION OF CONDE. 

Failure of Conde — Majority of Louis XIV. — Conde in 

Rebellion — Reaction in Paris 63 

xi 



xii Contents. 

CHAPTER VI. 

CLOSE OF THE WAR WITH SPAIN. 

PAGE 

Defeat of Conde and Safety of France — The English Alli- 
ance — Peace of the Pyrenees 74 

CHAPTER VII. 

RESTORATION OF MONARCHY IN ENGLAND. 

Conditions of the Restoration — Partial Fulfilment of the 
Declaration of Breda 88 

CHAPTER VIII. 

TRIUMPH OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH— RELATIONS WITH 
THE CONTINENT. 

Persecution of Dissent — First Connection with France. . 99 
CHAPTER IX. 

LOUIS AND SPAIN — THE DUTCH REPUBLIC. 

Personality of Louis XIV. — His Claims to the Spanish 
Succession and the Spanish Low Countries — The Dutch 
Republic 109 

CHAPTER X. 

LOUIS AND THE SPANISH LOW COUNTRIES. 

Negotiations with De Witt — Death of Philip IV. — Rejec- 
tion of the French Claims 120 

CHAPTER XI. 

ENGLAND — PERSECUTION OF DISSENT — THE DUTCH WAR. 

The King's Attempt to Favour Popery — Persecution of 
Protestant Dissent— Causes of the Dutch War — Pre- 
parations of England and the Republic — The War, 
1665— Dutch Alliances— The War, 1666— The Dutch 
in the Thames — Treaty of Breda 126 



Contents. xiii 

CHAPTER XII. 

PAGE 

DIPLOMACY OF LOUIS — INVASION OF THE SPANISH LOW 
COUNTRIES. 

French Treaties with Portugal and the Rhine Princes — In- 
vasion of the Low Countries — Treaty of Eventual 
Partition 146 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE FALL OF CLARENDON 155 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE AND THE PEACE OF 
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 

Various Projects of Charles — The Triple Alliance — Peace 
of Aix-la-Chapelle 162 

CHAPTER XV. 

FAILURE OF THE KING'S ATTEMPTS AT TOLERATION. 

Toleration During Recess — Persecution During Session . . 172 
CHAPTER XVI. 

LOUIS'S PREPARATIONS FOR THE INVASION OF THE UNITED 
PROVINCES. 

The Treaty of Dover — Treaties with Sweden, and Princes 
of the Empire — Treaty of Neutrality with Leopold . . 185 

CHAPTER XVII. 

CHARLES II. AND THE CABAL. 

The Cabal — Stop of the Exchequer — Declaration of In- 
dulgence — Dutch War 201 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE DUTCH REPUBLIC BEFORE THE WAR. . . 20}7 



xiv Contents. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

INVASION OF THE UNITED PROVINCES. 

PAGE 

French Occupation — Murder of the De Witts — Close of 
the French Attack — Failure of First Coalition Against 
Louis — Second Coalition Against Louis 212 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE PARLIAMENTARY CONFLICT IN ENGLAND. 

The Test Act — Refusal of Supplies — Shaftesbury in Oppo- 
sition — Peace with the Dutch 229 

CHAPTER XXL 

LOUIS— WILLIAM — CHARLES — PARLIAMENT. 

Campaign of 1674 — William of Orange — The Non-resist- 
ing Test — Reverses of Louis — Secret Treaty with 
Charles II — Campaign of 1676 — The War and Parlia- 
ment 238 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE PEACE OF NIMWEGEN. 

Marriage of William and Mary — Capture of Ghent and 
Ypres by Louis — Secret Treaties with Charles — The 
Disbanding Question in the English Parliament — Peace 
Between Louis and the Republic — Peace with Spain — 
Peace with the Emperor, &c. — Conclusion 259 

Index 279 



THE 

ENGLISH RESTORATION 
AND LOUIS XIV. 



CHAPTER I. 

PEACE OF WESTPHALIA. 

i. General Effect. 
The Peace of Westphalia (Oct. 28, 1648), which closed 
the desolating struggle of the Thirty Years' War, ushered 
in a new phase of European history. With the exception 
of Russia, Poland, and Turkey, not yet to be regarded as 
European nations, and of England, absorbed in her own 
internal settlement, there was not a country in Europe 
which did not henceforth work under new conditions. 
The political map was designed afresh ; the old names 
indeed were retained, but new conceptions were asso- 
ciated with them ; France, Germany, the Empire, Spain, 
and the countries of the North, meant from this moment 
something profoundly different, both individually and 
relatively, from what they had previously meant. 

The power of the Austrian house was worn out. The 
1 



2 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 

Spanish branch had lost its old influence in Italy ; its 
armies had been shattered at Rocroy and Nordlingen ; 
it had been compelled through sheer weakness to aban- 
don the struggle with the United Provinces, and it was 
hampered by domestic troubles ; while the German 
branch, territorially and politically dissociated from the 
Spanish, had now to relax completely her failing grasp 
upon the Princes of the Empire and the Free Towns. 
Sweden had become dominant in the North, but with- 
out a preponderance so great as to render her a danger 
to European peace. France was for the time more than 
satisfied with the position in which she was left by the 
treaties, and was regarded by the secondary states not as 
a menace, but as a guarantee of their independence. 

It was still more important that ideas which had in the 
past generally ruled the relations of peoples were osten- 
tatiously abandoned, and a new groundwork of inter- 
national policy was accepted with universal consent. 

Hitherto community of religion had been the recog- 
nised basis upon which alliances had been made and 
The new wars waged. But the Thirty Years' War is 

principle. t h e i ast war f religion in Europe. The Peace 

of Westphalia did for European repose what Henry of 
Navarre had done for French unity. Waves of religious 
emotion, indeed, did afterwards from time to time 
momentarily influence a country's policy, but only as 
incidental adjuncts to secular considerations. For the 
first time in the history of Christendom the wishes and 
decrees of the head of the Catholic Church were openly 
ignored. In vain the papal nuncio strove to maintain the 
influence of Rome ; in vain he protested in her name 
against the attacks which by the toleration of heretics 
and the secularisation of ecclesiastical property were 
dealt to the Church ; and in vain, when the treaties were 



1648. Peace of Westphalia. 3 

concluded and had become the law of Europe, the Holy 
See declared them 'null, invalid, disavowed, without 
force, and without effect.' The thunders of Rome fell 
upon unheeding ears ; the ecclesiastical idea had been 
replaced by a policy which boldly declared its national 
and secular origin. Henceforward it is the independence 
of individual states, or, to use a phrase as old as the reign 
of Elizabeth, the ' Balance of Power,' which becomes the 
ruling principle of international life. 

2. Germany. 

For Germany three things were done. In the first 
place there was granted an amnesty, partial indeed 
within the hereditary domains of the Em- political 
peror, but complete and comprehensive over amnesty, 
the rest of the Empire. This amnesty was no mere par- 
doning of political offences on the one side or the other, 
but an absolute re-establishment of those who had been 
dispossessed of their territories during the war. 

The religious difficulty was overcome by a compromise, 
based on the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, between the 
rival faiths and between the rival branches Compromise 
of Protestantism. All questions of ecclesias- on religion, 
tical property were determined by actual possession in 
1624, that year being chosen as lying between 161 8, the 
year when the Thirty Years' War began, and 1627, when 
Catholicism was again in the ascendant ; while a recon- 
stitution of the extraordinary commissions of the Diet 
with equal representation of Catholics and Protestants 
provided for the settlement of all future disputes. 

Finally, the relations of the Emperor to the States of 
the Empire were so revised as to modify pro- independence 
foundly the political constitution. Under of the States - 
Ferdinand II. and Ferdinand III. the increasing power of 



4 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 

the Austrian house had gone far to stifle the independence 
of the Princes of the Empire, and this independence 
they now recovered. At the very base of the new settle- 
ment lay the condition that henceforth the free consent 
of the States of the Empire assembled in Diet should be 
necessary for all action on the part of the Empire as a 
whole. Still more important was it that each State now 
secured the right of making foreign alliances, so long as 
these were not directed against the Emperor, the Empire, 
the public peace, or the treaty itself. This was the work 
, . „ of French diplomacy. Mazarin took care to 

French lnflu- . * J 

ence in this do in Germany the reverse of what he was 
bent upon doing in France. There we shall 
see him ready to sacrifice all to render the central power 
supreme over every form of independent and local action ; 
at home his aim was to weaken the central power to the 
utmost. He followed the steps of Richelieu in crushing 
the feudal idea in France ; he replaced and supported it 
in Germany. His object was that when occasion should 
arise it might be easy to create, among these independent 
Princes, leagues which should paralyse the Emperor's 
power of offensive action against France, whilst they 
opened the way for her arms to the heart of the Spanish 
Low Countries. 

3. France. 

Treaties of peace usually betoken a step in the rise 
or fall of nations. For the power of the Austrian house 

, the Peace of Westphalia was a striking mark 

gained by of decline ; for France it was the visible 

completion of a great bound to European 
supremacy. It was emphatically a French triumph ; and 
as her efforts had been great, so, for her patronage of the 
new Germanic federation, France reaped a rich reward. 
She was enabled at length to relinquish victoriously one 



1648. Peace of Westphalia. 5 

part of her life-and-death struggle with the house of 
Austria ; while, by the condition that the Emperor and 
Empire were not to interfere in the war still to be fought 
out with Spain, she was set free to continue and to bring 
to a glorious termination twelve years later a conflict 
which had lasted with varying fortune since the time of 
Francis I. 

The defenceless position of Paris, within but a few 
days' march of an enemy's fortresses, had ever been a 
source of anxiety to French statesmen. To 
make her strategically, as she was historically, French 
the heart of France, was the principal aim KSS 
of their diplomacy. That aim was now in frontier 

x J secured. 

a great measure realised. By the cession of 
Upper and Lower Alsace, with Sundgau and the pre- 
fectures of ten imperial towns, France gained the coveted 
Rhine frontier. By the possession of Old Breisach and 
the right of placing a garrison in Philippsburg, she se- 
cured two advanced posts in Germany ; while the stipu- 
lation that between Basel and Philippsburg no fortress 
might be established on the right bank of the river, 
several existing strongholds being dismantled, placed the 
whole of the Upper Rhine, with the exception of Strass- 
burg and places belonging to immediate vassals of the 
Empire, unreservedly in her hands. At the same time 
commerce and navigation were made free throughout 
its course. Thus, while Austria was no longer able to 
join hands with Spain in the Netherlands, inasmuch as 
the intervening States were now independent, and the 
Emperor could not march through them without their 
leave, France had secured a riverway into the heart of 
the United Provinces. The whole Rhine valley indeed 
was at her mercy, for the great ecclesiastical electorates 
of Treves and Mayence were in her interest. She 



6 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 

obtained moreover the full recognition of her rights to 
the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, with their 
'districts,' a right which she had claimed and practically- 
exercised since their conquest by Henry II., and she 
thereby secured a new and easy road, avoiding the 
strong fortress of Stenai, to the frontier of the Spanish 
Low Countries. Lastly, the undisputed possession of 
Pinerolo, which she had acquired in 1632, opened to her 
a path through the passes of the Alps into Piedmont. 

By all these acquisitions France had placed herself 
beyond the possibility of a sudden attack on her eastern 
The north- frontier. For the full accomplishment, how- 
SeVSyeT ever > of her ambition she had to wait. To 
secured. tne north-east lay the Spanish Low Coun- 

tries, with their line of well-nigh impregnable fortresses. 
For securing them, or at least for neutralising the danger 
which they threatened, every French minister had his 
scheme. Richelieu had proposed to form of them a free 
state ; Mazarin desired to conquer them ; the Dutch pro- 
posed to divide them with France. It will be seen that 
in this direction the ambition of France was for a time 
frustrated ; that, though a great step was made at the 
Peace of the Pyrenees (1659), the Spanish Low Countries 
were to form the object of thirty years more of intrigue 
and of war. 

4. Sweden. 

Sweden, supported by France, made good her claim 
to a heavy share in the spoils of victory. She obtained 
the whole of nearer and part of further Pomerania, with 
the reversion of the rest on the extinction of the male 
branch of the Brandenburg house. She thus secured 
the towns of Stettin, Gartz, Dam, and Golnau, with the 
islands of Riigen and Wolin, which gave her complete 
command of the mouths of the Oder on both banks, 



1648. Peace of Westphalia. 7 

while the cession of the town and harbour of Wismar, 
the archbishopric of Bremen, and the bishopric of Ver- 
den, placed in her power the navigation of the Elbe. 
All these she held as immediate fiefs of the Empire, and 
thus claimed for Bremen, Verden, and Pomerania three 
voices in the Imperial Diet. She was also allowed to erect 
a sovereign court at Wismar, with a university at Greifs- 
vvald. She had thus assured to her a communication 
with the Scandinavian States and her dominion of the 
Baltic ; and not only was placed in a position of marked 
though not crushing supremacy in the north of Europe, 
but gained a distinct hold upon Germany, both territori- 
ally and consultatively, which lasted until the Treaty of 
Stockholm in 1720. 

5. Spain. 

From all participation in that part of the Peace of 
Westphalia which concerned France and the Emperor 
Spain was rigorously excluded. Exhausted and bankrupt 
from the war with France and the struggle with the 
Dutch, she had long been anxious for peace. But the 
terms demanded by Mazarin in 1646 had been too much 
for her pride. That minister was bent upon wresting from 
her the barrier of fortresses which made French safety 
or extension to the north-east impossible. Mazarin's 
For this purpose he proposed to exchange offers - 
the Spanish Low Countries for Catalonia and Roussillon, 
then in the possession of France. But Spain hoped, in 
view of the confusion caused in France by the civil 
troubles, then nearly at their height, to regain Catalonia 
and Roussillon by force of arms. The Spanish Netherlands 
she determined to save in another way. She resolved to 
bow to necessity, and to close her long and profitless 
struggle with her rebellious subjects. The Dutch on their 
side were at the time not unwillin to dissolve their long- 



8 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 

standing alliance with France. They were alarmed at her 
rising power, and at the prospect of a French army in 
occupation of the Spanish Low Countries, which at pres- 
ent formed a barrier between themselves and French 
ambition. Spain sedulously fostered this feeling, and on 
January 30, 1648, concluded a treaty at Munster whereby 
she at last acknowledged the complete independence of 
c . . the United Provinces. She ceded to them 

Spain makes 

peace with all the places in Brabant, Flanders, and 

the Dutch. _ . , ..... 

Limburg, of which they were then in posses- 
sion, afterwards known as the ' Generality ; ' and she 
even granted liberty of conscience to all Dutch subjects 
in her territory. Lastly, she consented to close the navi- 
gation of the Scheldt and adjoining waterways, and so to 
ruin Antwerp, her great commercial centre, for the benefit 
of its Dutch rival Amsterdam. 

Germany reconstituted upon a decentralisation basis, 
under the protection of France, which now became the 
Summary of foremost European power; the supremacy 
t e peace. Q f Austria j n ce ntral Europe destroyed ; 

Sweden in a position of commanding strength in the north ; 
the Spanish monarchy severed from Austria and left face 
to face with France ; Switzerland formally detached from 
the Empire ; the United Provinces a new and indepen- 
dent kingdom : such is a rough political map of Europe 
after the Peace of Westphalia. 



1648. Prelude to the Fronde. 



CHAPTER II. 

PRELUDE TO THE FRONDE. 

I. Richelieu and Privilege. The Prime Ministership. 
Upon turning our eyes from the external grandeur of 
France to her internal condition we behold a strange con- 
trast. It well illustrates the tenacity of purpose which 
was the leading characteristic of Mazarin, that even while 
the last formalities of the treaty which made France the 
arbiter of Europe were taking place, he with the youthful 
King and the Queen mother were voluntary exiles from 
the seat of government. So completely occupied indeed 
were the minds of all but the minister himself and a few 
of his fellow workers with the beginnings of civil discord, 
that this great settlement passed almost without remark. 
To ninety-nine out of every hundred Frenchmen the 
treaty between the Crown and the malcontents of Paris, 
under cover of which the court returned to the capital, was 
of infinitely greater interest than the Treaty of West- 
phalia, which was signed on the same day, and which 
expressed the change which had passed over the face of 
Europe. 

To realise the meaning of the disturbances which, 
under the name of the 'Fronde,' went far during five 
years to render France powerless to take advantage of 
the position she had just gained, it will be necessary to 
refer somewhat in detail to the principle which had con- 
sistently guided the policy of Richelieu and of his pupil 
Mazarin. 

This principle was by all means and at all costs to 
render the Crown supreme over every rival influence. 



io English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1624. 

Henry IV. had understood that what France needed was 
national unity. Richelieu had felt that the first condition 
Richelieu 0I " national unity was the unquestioned and 

fcTnrikeThe unlimited authority of the central power. His 
monarchy whole career was one unfaltering struggle 

supreme. . . . . . r ... __ , • , 

with the spirit of privilege. He determined to 
turn the great feudal dignitaries into courtiers, the Parle- 
ments into mere courts of registration of the royal will. 
Beneath the Kingship all ranks of society were to occupy 
one common level of subservience. From the King was 
to issue all national activity ; in him were to centre all 
national aspirations. 

His earliest and most critical struggle was against the 
governors of provinces. These grandees had during the 
wars of religion well-nigh shaken off even the semblance 
of submission to the royal authority ; they raised troops, 
Struggle levied taxes, administered justice, made war 

governors or alliances, and were in every respect inde- 

of provinces, pendent sovereigns of their provinces. They 
had even learned to regard their governments as hered- 
itary rights. They thus formed a barrier to all attempts 
at centralisation. 

Richelieu therefore endeavoured to make their func- 
tions purely military, and to render the governorship as 
costly and as powerless as possible. Every opportunity 
was taken to replace the governors whom he found in 
office in 1624 by men devoted to himself. Exile, the 
prison, and the scaffold were ruthlessly used. By their 
readiness to engage in plots against him they played 
into his hands. Of the nineteen governors whom he 
found in 1624, four only remained at his death ; the 
other fifteen posts had been filled by men devoted to 
his interests, or had been absorbed into the monarchy. 

A still more effective blow against the genius of 



1 624. Prelude to the Fronde. 1 1 



feudalism was the revival of the institution of ' intend- 
ants.' These officers, chosen from the bour- The in- 
geoisie, nominated and dismissed at will by tenants, 
the King, were devoted to the power to which they owed 
their existence, and it was specially laid down that they 
might not be the relatives or dependents of the governors. 
Their power was immense, extending at first only to mat- 
ters of justice and police, but before long to finance, 
taxation, and every department of government. By 1648 
there were thirty-five of these officers with fixed posts in 
all the provinces, who, grasping little by little the whole 
provincial administration, and guided and supported by 
the central authority in their resistance to the governors 
and all local bodies, were the essential machinery of the 
central system. As such they were always the first object 
of attack at the hands of the classes whose privileges 
they had destroyed. 

Richelieu's task was an easy one in dealing with the 
general body of the noblesse. He had indeed no inten- 
tion of destroying their privileges. Equality 
before the King was his main object, and he 
judged that the surest way to secure that equality was a 
separation of classes so decided that union was an impos- 
sibility. The 5th chapter of his ' Testament politique ' 
is thus headed : ' Combien il est important que les di- 
verses parties de l'etat demeurent chacune dans l'etendue 
de ses bornes.' He therefore did all in his power to confirm 
them as a superior caste ; while, as the means of sustain- 
ing their position, he gave them the exclusive right to 
almost all offices of dignity and emolument, and allowed 
them to engage in commercial undertakings without 
derogation to their rank. But he had no intention of 
permitting them to remain a political power. The con- 
spiracies which they raised against him were crushed or 



12 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1626. 

nipped in the bud, and their leaders coldly and inexor- 
ably put to death, while the executions of De Boutteville 
and Des Chapelles, who had insolently defied the edict 
against duelling, taught their whole body that the King's 
commands might not be lightly disobeyed. The blow, 
however, which strikes the imagination most was one 
which marks in a vivid manner how great a space of 
Destruction of ^ me separated the political and social con- 
the castles. ditions of England and France. The France 
of Richelieu is the England of Henry II. By the ' ordon- 
nance ' of July 31, 1626, it was commanded that through- 
out the kingdom the fortifications of all towns and castles 
not needed for the defence of the frontiers should be 
destroyed. As in England, these castles were the haunts 
of oppression, and formed the greatest burden of the 
peasant class. Accordingly ' an immense outburst of joy 
rose from the common people, first throughout Britanny, 
and then throughout France. Since the days of Louis 
the Fat the monarchy had struck no greater blow for 
national unity against feudal oppression and anarchy ; 
all that remained of feudalism was stabbed to the heart.' 
Richelieu's dealings with the Church were conceived 
with the same view. Whilst he vehemently upheld the 
Gallican liberties, as the concrete expression 
of national life, against the papal claims, he 
was equally determined to allow no such independence 
in regard to the Crown. More than once he attacked in 
detail all the clerical immunities from taxation, and com- 
pelled holders of benefices to recognise the full lordship 
of the King, while on several occasions ordinances of a 
sweeping nature were issued, without consultation with 
Rome, for the reform of both the regular and secular 
clergy. New and frequent restrictions were also applied 
to ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and the civil power inter- 



1 639. Prelude to the Fronde. 13 

vened in many matters hitherto considered to be purely 
religious in their nature. 

The local governing bodies had by the time of Riche- 
lieu ceased in a great degree to possess political power ; 
and the cardinal, faithful to his policy of The bour _ 
balancing class against class, had no desire geoisie. 
to compass their further degradation. Occasionally, how- 
ever, they formed centres of disturbance, and they were 
then put down with a high hand. Thus Troyes, Dijon, 
and many other towns suffered the loss of part of their 
liberties, while at La Rochelle, where in 1628 the Protes- 
tant schism in its political aspect was finally destroyed, 
the municipal institutions were completely remodelled. 
Privas, Uzes, Nismes, Anduze, and Montauban suffered 
the same treatment in 1629. The revolt through sheer 
distress of the croquants in Guienne in 1637, and of the 
nus-pieds in Normandy in 1639, led to a general annul 
ling of privileges in these two provinces. 

The jealousy of Richelieu was still keener with regard 
to assemblies of a wider scope, such as the Etats Gene- 
raux and the Etats Provinciaux. The former £ tats csne- 
indeed, which corresponded with our English r g ux - and 
Parliament, were never summoned through- daux. 
out his career; while the latter, which after 1626 were 
the only political bodies remaining with the right of ap- 
proaching the sovereign, were diligently suppressed. The 
absence of any union or real legislative power among 
them rendered his task easy, and at his death Burgundy 
and Languedoc were the only two provinces where the 
Etats Provinciaux retained so much as their old con- 
stitution. 

With the Parlements of the provinces, and The 
especially with the Par lenient of Paris, the 
conflict was more severe and prolonged. Originally this 



14 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1641. 

latter body was merely a part of the royal council, 
charged with the administration of justice, and with the 
duty of recording the decisions of the council itself. It 
was also allowed the right, called the droit de remon- 
trances, of making observations upon these decisions. 
From this right, in the middle of the fifteenth century, 
had sprung the claim to refuse to record the edicts unless 
their ' remontrances ' were acted upon. At the same 
period the members acquired fixity of tenure of their 
offices, and, a little later, hereditary right. The Parle- 
ment of Paris naturally became the incarnation of privi- 
lege in its most selfish and aggressive form. Taking 
advantage of every moment of weakness on the part of 
the central authority, it had grown in strength until it had 
assumed the right of direct intervention in State affairs, 
and of representing the Etats Generaux when that body 
was not sitting. To Richelieu this pretended sovereignty 
formed a permanent obstacle to the national welfare, and 
he determined to crush it. The struggle lasted without 
cessation for fourteen years. In vain Richelieu endeav- 
oured by menaces, by creations of new offices, by the 
exile and imprisonment of leading members, to bend the 
Parlement to his will. So incessant and so galling was 
its opposition, especially in the refusals to register the 
financial edicts rendered necessary by the enormous 
Declaration expenses of the war, that in 1641 he deter- 
ofi64i. mined on a decisive step. In his famous 

manifesto of that year he set forth the principles upon 
which alone the State could prosper. The complete 
equality and entire submission of all men before the King 
is the first condition for national grandeur and stability ; 
whensoever this had been lost sight of, as in the evil 
days of Henry III., misfortune had followed. The royal 
authority was now again threatened by the exorbitant 



i643- Prelude to the Fronde. 15 

claims of the Parlement. They were thereupon forbidden 
in the most express terms to take henceforward any 
cognisance whatsoever of State affairs. Whilst allowing 
the ancient droit de remontrances, the declaration insisted 
upon the immediate registration of all edicts and declara- 
tions put forth from a lit de justice, or formal sitting of 
the King and Parlement, whether those remontrances 
were attended to or not. The application moreover of 
this right was confined to matters of pure finance ; in all 
questions of State administration the edicts were to be 
published and registered without any deliberation what- 
soever. And to emphasise the determination of the 
court, the offices of several members who had been for- 
ward in resistance were suppressed by the King ' de 
notre certaine science, pleine puissance, et autorite 
royale.' From this moment the Parlement ceased to be, 
constitutionally, a political assembly. We shall indeed 
see it during the disturbances which followed the great 
Cardinal's death raising itself for a few years, only to sink 
into a dependence upon the central authority still more 
complete than before. 

It is probable that the events which were passing in 
England contributed to this decisive action of Richelieu ; 
in any case it is an interesting commentary upon the 
relative positions of the Crown and its subjects in the two 
countries, that during the months of the imprisonment of 
Strafford and Laud, and less than three months before 
the execution of the prime minister of Charles by the 
English representative Parliament, the prime minister cf 
Louis was able by an act of masterful despotism to reduce 
to the position of a mere court of record of the royal will 
a turbulent and dangerous body of hereditary magistrates, 
who had nothing in common with an English Parliament 
but the name. 



1 6 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1643. 

Thus, then, before he died, Richelieu had altered the 

whole face of government. Every element of local or 

corporate resistance had well-nigh disap- 

Summary of x . . ■,-,■,* 

Richelieu's peared, or existed only in name. He left 
Prime two ideas occupying the whole field — the old 

Ministership. ^ ea Q f t ^ e aDSC) lute monarchy, and the new 
idea, which he created in France, and which Mazarin 
after a hard struggle sustained, of the irresponsible prime 
ministership. It was in the fact that to Louis XIV., at 
the death of Mazarin, there descended both of these — 
the prestige and power of royalty, and the prestige and 
power of the premiership, that his extraordinary position 
was in a great degree owing. And it was the struggle, 
the selfish and frivolous struggle, of the privileged 
classes against the new creation, and not against the 
monarchy, that constituted the Fronde. 

2. Mazarin and the Reaction. 
The absolutism established by Richelieu had lasted too 
short a time to crush out of his opponents the memory 
Partial °f tne i r former influence. The instincts of 

reaction. privilege were awake and vigilant, and their 

opportunity speedily came. Louis XIII. died but a few 
months after his great minister. He had faithfully car- 
ried out Richelieu's policy ; but even during those months 
the iron rule had been relaxed so far as to awaken the 
hope of a great reaction. The State prisoners were re- 
leased. The Parlement began at once to reclaim and to 
exercise that interference in State affairs off which Riche- 
lieu had so haughtily warned them ; the banished mem- 
bers returned to Paris and the suppressed offices were re- 
Claims of established. A declaration issued by Louis 
Parlement. nac j imposed upon the Queen, at his death, 
a council by which her regency would be entirely con- 



1 643. Prelude to the Fronde. 17 

trolled, and this declaration had been registered by the 
Parliament on the following day without resistance. Only 
four days after the King's death, however, the Parlement, 
by way of asserting its authority, abolished this council 
on the ground that such a limitation of the regent's func- 
tions was contrary to the principles of the French mon- 
archy, and placed the whole power unreservedly in the 
Queen's hands. Both Richelieu and the Parlement had 
deceived themselves. The Cardinal, to whom the Queen 
had naturally enough been a life-long enemy, and who 
expected that her first wish would be to make peace with 
the house of Austria, of which she was a _, n 

The Queen 

daughter, and for the overthrow of which he regent made 
had striven so fiercely, had hoped by Louis's 
declaration to fetter her independence of action. The 
Parlement, anxious to assert its strength, and hoping to 
find in the enemy of Richelieu the enemy of Richelieu's 
policy, had now placed her by their own action in a po- 
sition from which she was able before long to complete 
his work. 

They were soon enlightened. Thoughtful men looked 
forward with dread to a policy of revenge. The Queen 
was advised to choose a councillor committed 

, , . . . Mazann 

to no faction, and she chose, to the surprise succeeds 
and disgust of Richelieu's opponents, his 
pupil and confidant Mazarin. A Princess of Spain, guided 
by an Italian adventurer of low birth, was to complete 
the ruin of the Spanish monarchy and the consolidation 
of the French people. From first to last Mazarin served 
the Queen through every crisis with unfailing skill, and 
she sustained him against all assaults with unswerving 
fidelity. 

The fame of Mazarin has suffered from the fact that 
he followed Richelieu. Undoubtedly he will always 
c 



1 8 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1643. 

occupy a lower place in the world's history than his great 
predecessor. His character was not so heroic, his per- 
sonality so imposing, his energy so fierce, his conceptions 
so grandiose, his grasp so comprehensive, or his spirit so 
hio-h ; where Richelieu struck, he bribed ; 

His character : ° ,-,.,,. 

contrast with where Richelieu defied, he bent the knee. 
The contrast at the outset of his career is 
thus described by the master hand of the Cardinal de 
Retz: ' L'on voyait sur les degres du trone, d'ou l'apre et 
redoutable Richelieu avait foudroye plutot que gouverne 
les humains, un successeur doux et benin, qui ne voulait 
rien, qui etait au desespoir que sa dignite de Cardinal ne 
lui permettait pas de s'humilier, autant qu'il l'eut souhaite, 
devant tout le monde.' None the less Mazarin stands 
before us throughout his career as the one man of his 
time in France ; alone not merely in coolness and clear 
sight and good sense, but in that which most distinguishes 
a man from the mass of men, the distinct perception of a 
distant goal, and an unfaltering determination to reach 
it. If he had not the force of Richelieu, he was at least 
as supple and vigilant ; if he did not show himself so 
masterful of the present, it was perhaps because he saw 
the future more clearly, and fixed his eye too exclusively 
upon that. His patience, fertility of resource, and tenacity 
of purpose were exhaustless. Brought up in the Italian 
school of policy, expediency was his only guide. All 
lines of conduct were of merit in his eyes, whatever 
moral verdict might be passed on them by others, accord- 
ing as they tended, even while apparently leading him 
far from the direct road, to bring him in time nearer to 
his object; he knew neither close friendships nor lasting 
hatreds, for either of them might prove a hindrance 
to this progress. And if, in founding a great policy, 
Richelieu had to overcome colossal difficulties, he had 



1 643. Prelude to the Fronde. 19 

advantages which Mazarin, in his conflict to carry that 
policy to a triumphant conclusion, conspicuously lacked. 
Richelieu was a Frenchman of gentle birth, and he was 
the irresponsible minister of a King in the plenitude of 
his power. Mazarin was a foreigner, scarce able to speak 
the language of the country he aspired to rule, and his 
task was, while his mind was filled with a far-off design, 
to uphold without flinching, sometimes in exile and in 
danger of his life, at a period when every turbulent and 
selfish element of political life held riot, the authority 
of an infant King. 

At the outset of their career the hands of Mazarin and 
the Queen Regent were strengthened by an opportune 
event. On May 19, 1643, the desperate Battle of 
valour of Enghien and his horsemen swept May"™' 
away the renowned Spanish infantry at l6 43- 
Rocroy. By this feat of arms, which marks the trans- 
ference of military supremacy from the Spanish to the 
French race, a lustre was thrown upon the policy of 
Richelieu which was of course reflected on the new 
government. At the same time the support of the King's 
uncle, the fickle and characterless Orleans, and of 
Enghien's father, Conde, were for the present secured for 
the court by liberal promises. 

The first attack upon Mazarin came, not from either 
of the great interests which had been depressed, but 
from a faction of persons who, while with- 

... . Beaufort 

out judgment or principle, were active and and the' im- 
unscrupulous enough to be dangerous. The P ortants - 
Duke of Beaufort, grandson of Henry IV. and Gabrielle 
d'Estrees, whose only respectable quality was that of 
personal courage, had collected around him his father 
Vendome, his insignificant brother Mercceur, and a 
number of the less reputable noblesse, who had not 



20 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1643. 

dared to raise their heads against Richelieu. With the 
most paltry designs they mingled the most high-sounding 
maxims, and called themselves after the Roman patriots 
whose deeds they professed to emulate. The ridiculous 
side of the affair was soon recognised by the ready wit of 
the laughter-loving Parisians. It was the age of nick- 
names; Beaufort, whose handsome figure and licentious 
life made him popular among the lower bourgeoisie, was 
soon known as the ' Roi des Halles,' ' King of the Market- 
place,' while his adherents were styled the ' Importants.' 
With them were joined the returning exiles, Guise, 
Elbceuf, Epernon, and others ; while the court ladies, 
delighted at a new excitement, and led by the famous 
Duchess of Chevreuse and Mme. de Montbazon, threw 
themselves eagerly into the plot. Gallantry, as was 
fitting, caused the breaking up of the intrigue. A quarrel 
for precedence between Mme. de Montbazon and Eng- 
hien's sister, Mme. de Longueville, led to the disgrace 
of the former. Beaufort, who was her love:, deter- 
mined to avenge her by the assassination of Mazarin. 
Warned of the danger, and recognising the feebleness 
of the conspiracy, Mazarin at once struck his blow. 
Beaufort was arrested and imprisoned; Vendome, the 
Duchess of Chevreuse, and the other leaders were 
exiled from Paris, and the party disappeared amid 
universal ridicule. Mazarin now felt strong enough 
to resist with steadiness the claims of the grandees. 
Elboeuf and Epernon indeed received governments ; 
but Bouillon was refused Sedan, and though Vendome 
demanded the important government of Britanny, the 
queen took it into her own hands. 

Opposition of Meanwhile the Parlejnent was eagerly ex- 
the ParUment. erc i s i n g [ ts reasserted claim to interfere in 
State matters. The aristocracy of the robe was a more 



1 644. Prelude to the Fronde. 21 

dangerous enemy than that of the noblesse, and a powerful 
means of attack was now furnished them. 

It was no fault of Mazarin that the finances of France 
were in a desperate condition. The expenses of the war 
had been enormous, and the constitutional State of 
machinery of taxation was not calculated for finance, 
the strain. At Richelieu's death the revenue had been 
anticipated for three years, supplies having been bor- 
rowed at exorbitant interest. Nor can the prodigality of 
the first year of the regency, when the current phrase, 
' La Reine est si bonne ' well expressed the incapacity of 
Anne of Austria to resist the importunity of the courtiers, 
and when the indispensable support of Orleans and 
Conde could be secured only by enormous bribes, be 
laid to his charge. The state of things that had to be 
faced at present was that the expenditure, which in 1642 
was 99 millions of livres, had risen in 1644 to 124 mil- 
lions, of which no less than 59 millions were absorbed 
by the rapacity of the courtiers and the farmers of the 
taxes. But it was the manner in which Method of 
these sums were raised, more than the sums collection. 
themselves, which led to opposition. The bankers who 
provided the loans had duties assigned to them in repay- 
ment, which they themselves collected. There was thus 
every opportunity for oppression and embezzlement. 
The bankers grew enormously rich. What however 
most roused the anger of the people was the knowledge 
that £mery, the controller-general of finance, a man of 
the vilest character, was the worst trafficker in the spoil, 
and that he was protected by Mazarin. 

The taille, a direct tax upon property, which was 
levied almost entirely upon the peasantry, _, 

. .... The taille. 

and which was peculiarly vexatious in its inci- 
dence, had at first been excluded from the bankers' opera- 



22 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1644. 

tions. It now however fell into their hands, and became 
a terrible burden. Provinces which had never seen an 
enemy were devastated as though a destroying army had 
passed over them, and popular revolts broke out in several 
quarters. Expedients still more desperate were resorted 
to : twelve millions were borrowed at twenty-five per 
cent. ; two hundred fresh offices were created for sale ; 
a tax of joyeux avenement was levied upon all royal 
officers, the towns, communes, corporations, persons ex- 
empted from the tattle, and innkeepers. Permanent dues 
to the Crown were redeemed for cash ; grants of domain 
lands revoked ; dues for bequests rigidly exacted from 
the clergy. And when all was done, the greater part of 
the money thus raised was swallowed up in the repay- 
ment of loans. 

Emery now took the step which led to the first direct 
collision with the Parlement. Charles I.'s abuse of the 
law of ship-money may have suggested to him 
a similar abuse of the law called the toise, by 
which in 1548 the building of houses outside the walls 
of Paris had for a special purpose been forbidden. In 
January 1644 a tax of 40 sous was laid on every toise of 
land thus built upon ; and the government declined to 
allow appeals to be carried before the Parlement. Parle- 
ment at once declared this to be a violation of their 
privileges. The refusal of the court to give way was met 
by what came perilously near to an armed revolt. The 
mob threatened to burn down Emery's house. The 
more violent section of the Parlement openly avowed that 
a general rising was what they wished to bring about. 

The government recoiled before the danger. Some 
Taxe des other method had to be found. The toise had 

aises. fallen upon the poorer classes ; Emery now 

proposed to raise the necessary supplies from the rich, 



1 645. Prelude to the Fronde. 23 

and by the taxe des aises, a kind of forced loan, he hoped 
to obtain eighteen or twenty millions. The Par lenient 
willingly gave up the detested money-lenders to be 
spoiled. But they insisted on complete exemption for 
themselves and for all officials connected with them or 
with the university, as well as for merchants of only mod- 
erate wealth. 

These exceptions reduced the receipts to insignifi- 
cance. Emery once more fell back in March 1645 upon 
the toise. The riotous opposition of the younger mem- 
bers was this time met with firmness by the court. The 
deputation which was summoned by the Queen to give an 
account of their conduct received a scolding Severity of 
as from our own Queen Elizabeth. Barillon, the court - 
one of the presidents and an adherent of the ' Impor- 
tants,' was arrested, and three other leading malcontents 
were exiled. 

In this state of things Mazarin looked anxiously 
abroad ; again Enghien came to his aid by the victory of 
Nordlingen (August 3, 1645). The prestige Battle of 
thus gained was at once turned to advantage, AugustX"' 
On September 5 the boy-king was brought to l6 45- 
Paris to hold a lit de justice. From any de- The lit de 
crees passed at this, the most solemn cere- J ustlce - 
mony known to the constitution, there was no escape 
short of civil war. For such an extremity matters were 
not yet ripe, and the Parlement ceased open opposition. 
The government wisely withdrew both the toise and the 
taxe des aises. But an immense number of new offices 
were created ; taxes on divers trades, and many other 
expedients for raising money were registered ; the clergy, 
the great trading companies, and the officials of the 
sovereign courts, were compelled to contribute largely. 
For a year no further difficulty was experienced. 



24 



English Restoration and Louis XIV. 



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1 645. Prelude to the Fronde. 25 

3. The Prince of Conde. 
Great as was the service which the successes of 
Enghein (now to be known as Conde, his father having 
died) had rendered the Government, his „ .. J 

' ... Conde and 

position was the cause of much anxiety to xh&Petits- 
Mazarin. Whether for generalship or per- 
sonal prowess he formed the most brilliant military 
figure of the time. As a great cavalry leader he has had no 
equal. Marlborough was not more calm nor Rupert more 
impetuous. To him were given the face and figure that 
beseem the warrior, the ringing voice to rally a squadron 
reeling from the charge, the ' eagle eye ' which notes 
every desperate chance, the instantaneous decision which 
compels the fate of battle. He became the idol of the 
proud and warlike youth who had fought and conquered 
with him at Rocroy and Nordlingen, and who, emulating 
his cool carelessness in danger and his desperate valour 
in action, formed the nucleus of that household brigade 
which earned for itself so terrible a fame throughout 
Europe. Supreme as he was however in the battlefield, 
Conde's character was marred by unfortunate weaknesses ; 
he was foppish, irritable, intemperate in thought and 
language, and inordinately vain. His followers imitated 
the defects of their ' master,' and what was pardonable in 
the great soldier became absurd in them. With their 
wonted readiness the Parisians took hold of the poorer 
side of their character, the supercilious airs, the foppish- 
ness of dress, and they have come down to us as the 
Petits-maitres. Intoxicated with his well-earned glory 
and with the adulation of this band of worshippers ; 
influential alike by the enormous wealth and power 
which he had inherited, and by his near relation to the 
throne ; Conde now began to evince a dangerous am- 
bition. In this ambition he was firmly withstood by 



id English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1646. 

Mazarin and the Queen ; to allow one man to become so 
powerful was to throw up the game. The check sank 
deep into Conde's mind. To the contempt of the noble 
for the bourgeois and of the warrior for the statesman, 
was now added a feeling of active hostility which at no 
distant time was to bear fruit. 

4. Encroachments of the Parlement. 
This however was not the danger that was momentarily- 
pressing upon the government. The financial troubles 
were again urgent. In addition to indirect taxation, 
which raised no opposition from the people, Emery now 
put in action one of the edicts of 1645 by which all posses- 
sors of lands held on an annual rental to the Crown were 
ordered to redeem that rent by payment of a year's 
revenue. The peculiar sting of this lay in the fact that 
while the rent had not been changed since the middle 
ages, and was therefore practically nominal, the revenue 
had continually increased. The bourgeoisie were at once 
in arms against the ' rachat.' For three days 
the Palais Royal was besieged by a crowd of 
angry citizens. The announcement that a /// de justice 
was to be held to bear down opposition intensified the 
excitement. Dangerous talk was heard. The successful 
insurrection of Massaniello in Naples was quoted. During 
the night the firing of musketry was heard in the streets ; 
the bourgeois were trying their arms. Urged on by their 
necessities the government nevertheless were firm ; the 
lit de justice was held ; the operation of the ' rachat ' was 
indeed postponed, but money was again raised by new 
creations, especiallv of maitres de requetes. 

Condition r J * 

ofthe The young King and Mazarin had to listen 

to some plain speaking. ' For ten years, 

sire,' said Omer Talon, the president, ' the country dis- 



1648. Prelude to the Fronde. 2j 

tricts have been ruined, the peasants compelled to lie 
upon straw, their furniture sold for the payment of taxes. 
And for ten years, to minister to the luxury of Paris, 
millions of innocent folk are obliged to live upon rye 
and oat bread, and their only protection is their poverty. 
Their souls, and nothing else, are their own, and that is 
only because they cannot be sold.' The historian of the 
French Revolution finds its direct cause in the state of 
misery to which the peasantry were reduced under the 
administrations of Richelieu and of Mazarin. 

Over the creation of maitres de requetes serious op- 
position again broke out. The existing officials loudly 
denied the right to create new offices during the mi- 
nority of the King. Belonging as they did to the haute 
bourgeoisie, officially connected with the Parlement, and 
in some cases allied to the noblesse, they were a danger- 
ous body to attack. The Parlement gladly made their 
cause its own. It now went a step further Continued 
than hitherto in its encroachments. It re- menCfof" 
fused at first to vote the edicts registered at the Parlement. 
lit de justice, except that of the rachat, and some others 
which it allowed with modifications. In the end how- 
ever it shrank once more from open conflict. None the 
less it continued its examination of the edicts ' sous le 
bon plaisir du roi.' The example told upon the pro- 
vinces. Both in Britanny and at Toulouse there was 
open and violent resistance. 

A last resource was now discovered by the ingenuity 
of £mery. The 'Paulette,' so named after its originator, 
Paulet, who lived in the reign of Henry IV., The 
was an annual tax paid by all officials who 'Paulette.' 
had a right to the heredity of their offices. Once in 
every nine years it was subject to revision before re- 
newal, and 1648 was the year at which a fresh revision 



28 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 

was due. Emery now, in addition to ceasing all pay- 
ments to the creditors of government for a year (a device 
afterwards imitated by Charles II. in the ' Stop of the 
exchequer ') and of salaries to the inferior officials, 
determined to demand as a condition of renewal a fine 
of four years' salary. In the hope of avoiding the oppo- 
sition of the Parlement the fine was not to be levied 
upon that body. But the bribe was refused. On the 
Bond of contrary the Parlement signed a bond of 

union. union, May 13. 1648, with the other sover- 

eign courts, and decided to send deputies to a confer- 
ence in the Chamber of St. Louis. The court immediately 
recognised the significance of such a step, and determined 
to oppose the meeting with resolution. It was not to be 
imagined that an assembly so formed would limit its 
action to the single purpose for which it was ostensibly 
convened. Two leading deputies were arrested, others 
were exiled from Paris, and threats of severer measures 
were thrown out. 

Suddenly, at the moment when the court seemed in 
command of the situation, events occurred which com- 
The court pelled Mazarin to temporise Orleans joined 

yields. fa e malcontents ; Beaufort, the leader of the 

* Important^,' had escaped from Vincennes ; the pro- 
vinces were stirring for revolt. Abroad, too, matters 
were going ill : the Spaniards had taken Courtrai, and 
were gaining ground fast. A conference was therefore 
opened with the Parlement, at which Mazarin made 
a striking representation of the danger of its action. 
Discord, he said, was giving to Spain greater advan- 
tages than she could gain by force of arms. The 
refusal of supplies would speedily make useless all the 
expenditure of blood and treasure already incurred. 
Catalonia must be abandoned ; the alliance with Svve- 






1648. Prelude to the Fronde. 29 

den and other powers to whom France gave subsidies 
must be broken off. His words were vain. Personal 
and selfish interests were supreme. Mazarin saw that 
resistance at the moment was useless. He succeeded in 
inducing the haughty Queen to bend before the ' ca- 
naille,' as she called them in her anger, to promise the 
release of the imprisoned members and the acceptance 
of the demands of the Parlement. Parle- _ 

1 he 

ment at once sent deputies to the Chamber Chamber of 
of St. Louis ; and thus, at first in defiance 
of the Queen, and at length, on June 30, 1648, with her 
consent, was formed a body which became, as was 
anticipated, a permanent political assembly, sitting dur- 
ing its own pleasure, like our Long Parliament, for the 
reform of the kingdom. The aristocracy of the robe had 
won a definite victory over the ministerial power. 

5. The English Rebellion and the Fronde. 

Between the five years' barren turmoil of the Fronde, 
and the contemporary struggle of the English Parliament 
with Charles L, there are points of superficial similarity 
sufficiently striking to suggest comparison. In both cases 
the conflict arose from the ill-defined character of the pre- 
rogative in relation to the other powers of the State, and 
in both the prime-ministership, the special characteristic 
of absolutism, was in the first instance the object of attack. 
In both, the contending forces, under the stress of war, 
each summoned to its help foreign aid ; and in both, the 
anti-absolutist party established in defiance of the con- 
stitution a permanent assembly, the one in the Chamber 
of St. Louis, the other in the Long Parliament. 

But here resemblance ceases. The differences between 
the two movements were radical and profound. How 
real was the one, how purposeless in comparison was the 



30 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 

other, may be inferred from the fact that whereas the 
English movemenc reacted constantly upon the French, 
the events of the Fronde received not the slightest atten- 
tion from even if they were known to, those who in 
England were engaged in a conflict which absorbed every 
quality of heart and brain. 

The English contest was at once accentuated and 
ennobled by religious and intellectual antagonism of the 
intensest character. It was a contest of modes of thought. 
An earnest faith in the righteousness of their cause, an 
enthusiastic conviction in the direct interposition of God 
in their behalf, sustained the noblest of Charles's antago- 
nists in every reverse, and carried them forward to every 
victory ; and it is this which clothes the English rebellion 
with tragic dignity. To the Fronde this religious element 
was utterly wanting And so there was in it no trace of 
heroism. For Falkland, eagerly welcoming the death 
which saved him from witnessing longer the agony of his 
country ; for Hampden, praying with his last breath for 
her relief; for Milton, sanctifying rebellion by a divine 
eloquence, it has absolutely no figures to show. 

So, too, in face of the struggle of great principles 
which constituted the English rebellion, family ties were 
unhesitatingly if mournfully sacrificed, and gallantry and 
intrigue were powerless ; in the whole annals of the civil 
war scarcely a woman's name occurs. But the pages of 
the Fronde are crowded with the names of women, beau- 
tiful, clever, and brave, but licentious and unprincipled, 
who swayed the fortunes of the fight at the caprice of their 
amours or the ambition of their families, who had each 
of them her price, and to gain whom occupied the con- 
stant attention of Mazarin and his opponents alike. We 
look in vain to the leaders of the Fronde for self-sacrifice 
or the idea of duty, for far-reaching sight or for control- 



1648. Prelude to the Fronde. 31 

ling force. We look in vain for an Eliot, a Pym, or a 
Cromwell. We find instead De Retz, whose highest 
ambition was to be a leader of faction, and whose strongest 
motive was personal hatred of Mazarin ; who, despising 
his dupes, merely amused himself with revolt; we find 
Beaufort, vain, silly, and petulant, the darling of shop- 
keepers' wives ; Conde, leading more than once the here- 
ditary enemies of his country against his King with no 
higher object than the satisfaction of his vanity ; Orleans, 
slothful, timid, and blown about with every varying 
wind of fortune. Beside them there flash across the 
stage, with all the picturesque garb and incident of 
the time, many gay and gallant figures, as brilliant 
in their contrast with the sombre men of the English 
revolution as the causes for which they contested were 
light and fleeting in comparison with the stern purposes 
of that great fight. The contrast is expressed in the 
names. A fronde was a sling used by boys in their 
play. The English movement was indeed a Revolution. 
The French movement was but a mischievous bur- 
lesque of a revolution ; and as such it is fitly known by 
a name derived from the sport of gamins and school- 
boys. 

To these, the profoundest of the differences which 
forbid comparison, there are others little less striking to 
be added. The English Parliament represented freely 
and directly the whole English people. The Parlement 
of Paris was a body of permanent officials, who, though 
they had acquired considerable power, possessed con- 
stitutionally no legislative or even deliberative functions, 
represented no interests but their own, and discovered in 
every action the inveterate selfishness of a narrow and 
grasping caste. In England the intimate connection 
between all the members of the social body, the sym- 



32 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 

pathy — the comradeship indeed — between nobles and 
commoners, governed and governing classes, made co- 
operation not merely feasible but natural, and enabled 
the whole nation from highest to lowest to take in the 
struggle an eager and a constant part. In France the 
baneful division of classes, long existing and sedulously 
encouraged by Richelieu, was fatal to all such common 
action. The bourgeoisie had no support in an im- 
poverished and despairing peasantry, and though for a 
time officialism might enlist the scornful support of an 
idle and arrogant noblesse, the unnatural alliance gave 
way as soon as a common danger was removed. The 
English movement was national, the French was per- 
sonal. 

One more difference of far-reaching import must be 
noticed. Old and venerable as was the idea of monarchy 
in England, its place in the English mind was disputed 
and in many cases occupied by the representative idea, 
which had grown up with it side by side. And so it 
happened that, though destroying forever all hope for 
royal absolutism, the English revolution was eminently 
constructive. The Parliament saw more clearly than 
the King what they wanted, and this they were able to 
obtain without a King. The machinery of government 
was ready to their hand. The destruction of monarchy, 
as a temporary measure, was therefore possible without 
national disintegration. Very different was it in France. 
Even previous to the ministry of Richelieu the idea of the 
sacredness of monarchy had been all-pervading, and he 
had striven to raise it to the rank of a religion. It had 
absorbed into itself all other ideas of government, and it 
never entered into any Frenchman's head that monarchy 
could be dispensed with for a day. And thus the French 
movement was as eminently destructive. It is impossible 



1648. The Parliamentary Fronde. 33 

to see even now what could have taken the place of the 
French absolutism except disastrous and illimitable con- 
fusion, had either officialism or grandeeism triumphed. 
It was the sense of this that led to the final failure of the 
Fronde. How different were the issues in the two coun- 
tries may be judged from the party cries. In England 
the Royalist cried ' God and the King ! ' his opponent 
answered with ' God and the Parliament ! ' In France, 
even while the King was a child, there were but two 
serious variations upon 'Vive le Roi ! ' ; they were 'Vivent 
le Roi et les Princes ! ' and ' A bas le Mazarin ! ' 



CHAPTER III. 

THE PARLIAMENTARY FRONDE. 

i. Concessions of the Court. 
The first, or Parliamentary, period of the Fronde pos- 
sessed a certain title to respect. Amid the mob of in- 
terested officials, turbulent nobles, intriguing character of 
priests, and clamorous bourgeois, were to be men£ly ia ~ 
found men who represented the highest type Fronde. 
of citizen life, whom neither Anne of Austria nor the mob 
of Paris could terrify, nor Mazarin cajole. And though 
violence, folly, selfishness, and confusion marked its 
course, and though all zeal for the welfare of the country 
was soon forgotten in the indulgence of an unreasoning 
hate of Mazarin, this movement had, nevertheless, the 
merit of attacking, however interestedly and however 
inopportunely, a taxation that had become ruinous, and 
an administration of reckless waste. 

For a while Mazarin appears not to have recognised the 
gravity of the situation. He was ignorant in a great degree 
D 



34 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 

of the constitution of the country, and it was the intrigues 
in the court which appeared important to him. And now, 
at the very moment when the Chamber of St. Louis had 
established its position as an imperium in imfterio of the 
most threatening character, he was occupied with the 
endeavours of the Duke of Longueville, who had mar- 
ried the sister of Conde, to acquire the right to sit among 
the Princes of the blood. He was however soon 
_ , , awakened. The thirty-two delegates were 

Demands of . . . . , , e 

the chamber already busy in claiming the control of every 
branch of the administration. With a just 
instinct they first fell upon the Intendants, by whose ap- 
pointment Richelieu had dealt so severe a blow to vested 
interests and local privileges. They demanded the dis- 
missal of these officers, and the transference of their duties 
to the 3,000 petty officials whom they had superseded. 
They then asked for the remission of a quarter of the 
faille, and of all arrears since 1647, the annulling of all 
contracts with the financiers regarding it, and the strict 
appropriation of the supplies gained from it to the pur- 
poses of the war. A Chamber of Justice was to be 
created to investigate the extortions of the farmers of the 
taxes. The proposal that no tax should in future be levied 
unless previously voted by the Parliament was doubtless 
prompted by the action of the Long Parliament in Eng- 
land, as was also the claim that no one should be detained 
in prison for more than twenty-four hours without being 
brought to trial before his proper judges. The trading 
classes demanded the abolition of all monopolies and 
abuses in the sale of necessaries, and the protection of 
native industries. No new offices were to be created with- 
out the consent of Parliament, and there should be no 
diminution of salaries. All these demands of the Chamber, 
which were endorsed and presented by the Parlement, 



1648. The Parliamentary Fronde. 35 

were in direct denial of the doctrine that to the Crown 
alone belonged all legislative authority. 

Furious at the arrogance of the ' canaille,' Anne of 
Austria for a time refused to listen to these demands. 
But Mazarin, now fully alive to the danger, Concessions 
and especially to the precariousness of his of the court - 
personal position, induced her to temporise. £mery 
was dismissed. The Intendancies, all but three, were 
revoked. A diminution of one-eighth of the taille was 
offered, and the desired Chamber of Justice was decreed. 
The late appointments which had caused so much jeal- 
ousy were revoked, the diminished salaries restored to 
the original sums, and the Paulette renewed. The right 
of the Parlement to verify financial edicts was acknowl- 
edged. The Queen, in her own phrase, ' threw roses at 
the Parlement' 

In return for these concessions the court demanded 
that the Chamber of St. Louis should be dissolved, and 
that the Parlement should return to its purely judicial 
functions, which had lately been much neglected. The 
Frondeurs, in reply, pointed out the omission of any 
satisfactory mention of the point upon which they felt 
most strongly, arbitrary arrest ; and they urged the 
summoning by the Crown of a general assembly com- 
posed of the different Chambers. Again Mazarin had 
great difficulty in calming the Queen, who, as he told 
her, was valiant as a soldier who does not recognise 
danger, and who was for immediate conflict. He him- 
self was looking eagerly abroad, and was waiting only 
until his hands should be again strengthened by a strik- 
ing military success. 



36 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 

2. Beginning of Revolution. 
In the end of August great news arrived. On the 
20th Conde gained the victory of Lens, which well 
nigh completed the ruin of the Spanish 
Lens^Aug. military strength. The opportunity was in- 
Arrest of stantly seized. While the ' Te Deum ' was 

Broussei and being chanted for the victory, Broussel and 

Blancmesnil. ° J 

Blancmesnil, two of the councillors who had 
been foremost in opposing the court, were arrested by 
the Queen's orders. Within an hour the people, sedu- 
Riots in lously nursed for sedition by Mazarin's op- 

Paris, ponents, were in uproar. They thronged 

the city, threw up barricades, and let down the chains 
which barred the narrow streets. In an incredibly short 
time Paris was an impassable camp, and the whole city 
was in arms. And now, while the cry of ' Vive le Roi ! ' 
was shouted as loudly as ever, was heard with it the 
watchword of the next five years, ' Point de Mazarin ! ' 

3. The Cardinal de Retz. 

During all the troubles that had now opened upon 

France, no influence was more actively exerted for mis- 

chief than that of Jean Francois Paul de 

Cardinal Gondi, better known by his later title of 

de Retz 

Cardinal de Retz. Of Italian birth, he had 
risen by the favour of Richelieu and by his own talents 
and craft, until, having taken Orders, he became, after 
a youth of dissipation, coadjutor to his uncle the aged 
Archbishop of Paris. A duellist and a libertine, with no 
spark of religious feeling, and hating his profession, he 
looked to it nevertheless to secure for him an eminent 
place in the turmoil of politics. To increase the import- 
ance of his office he asserted and maintained his right 
of precedence even over the Duke of Orleans, and in- 



1648. The Parliamentary Fronde. yj 

sisted upon the fullest recognition of his ecclesiastical 
rank. By the careful performance of all the outward 
duties of his place, by a well-feigned humility, by pro- 
fuse almsgiving, and by an ostentatious attention to the 
interests of the poor, he secured among them a danger- 
ous influence. Diminutive in stature, and with signal 
disadvantages of person, he possessed a charm of 
tongue with which it was as easy for him to sway the 
passions of the mob or the councils of the Parliament, 
as to seduce women or entice men into conspiracy. 
Conspiracy, indeed, was the aim of his existence. He 
is the unique example of a man of great and powerful 
mind deliberately setting before himself as the highest 
attainable object the position of a successful faction- 
leader. Such a title, he declared, was the most honour- 
able that he could find in ' Plutarch's Lives.' At the 
age of eighteen he had written a history of the conspir- 
acy of Jean Louis de Fiesque, in which are laid down 
all the rules of successful treason. Higher qualities 
were, he declared, needed to form a successful faction- 
leader than to form a great emperor of the universe, 
and Catiline was a greater man than Caesar. For the 
career of his adoption he was admirably suited by the 
endowments of his Italian birth. He had the supple 
resoluteness, the ready resource, and the absolute un- 
scrupulousness of his countrymen. He was free from 
all personal ties other than that of a licentious but calcu- 
lating attachment to one or two of the women whose 
names are notorious among the female leaders of the 
Fronde. Of statesmanship he possessed no trace ; and 
the cause for which he fought, so long as it was the cause 
of confusion, was a matter of indifference to him. His 
action was at present decided by an intense jealousy of 
Mazarin, and by the perception that in opposition to him 



38 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 

could be found the fullest opportunity for the exercise of 
his powers. But he valued good taste in treason as he 
valued it in any art. His natural feeling for the fitting 
in time and place had made him keep aloof from the 
' Importants,' for whom, as for many of his later asso- 
ciates, he professed a hearty contempt. 

Now however he considered his time was come. 
Arrayed in his ecclesiastical vestments he went to the 
Palais Royal and urged upon the Queen the release of 
Broussel. ' Rather would I strangle him with my own 
hands,' was the passionate reply. The royal guards 
were ordered out to disperse the crowd, but they were 
stopped by the first barricades. De Retz accompanied 
them and endeavoured, he says, to soothe the tumult. 
On his return to the court he was received by Anne with 
bitter sarcasm : ' Vous avez bien travaille, Monsieur ; 
allez vous reposer.' The insult sank deep, and hence- 
forth he pursued a course of bitter enmity to the Queen 
and Mazarin. 

For two days the mob remained under arms ; loss of 
life took place, and the royal officers were insulted and 
attacked. The Parlement passed in a body through the 
seething streets to demand the release of the prisoners. 
Twice they were repelled with anger by Anne. On their 
third visit the president Mole informed the Queen that 
if she did not give way he would not answer longer for 
the consequences. At the entreaties of Mazarin and 
The court Orleans she at length consented to a corn- 

gives way. promise. The Parleme7it gave up its preten- 
sions to interfere in State administration, with some 
minor exceptions ; and in return Broussel was set at 
liberty. His entry on August 28 was one long triumphal 
procession ; the people, in a delirium of joy at their 
victory, flung themselves at his feet, and addressed him 



1648. The Parliamentary Fronde. 39 

as their saviour and protector. Having offered his thanks 
at Notre Dame, he was escorted to the Grand Chamber 
and there received the congratulations of the Parle?7ient. 
The frenzy-fit which had seized the people then passed 
off with the picturesque rapidity which had marked its 
beginning. Within a few hours the barricades had dis- 
appeared, the mob had melted away, and Paris was in 
absolute repose. It was as if a troubling dream had come 
suddenly to an end. 

4. Mazarin's Measures. The Court Leaves Paris. 

But Mazarin was not deceived. He foresaw further 
attacks; and he resolved to be beforehand with his 
opponents. On the very day after the return Mazarin's 
of Broussel he drew up for the Queen notes ^toring'royal 
of the course of action to be pursued. An authority, 
agreement with De Retz and the other leaders of the 
opposition must be ostentatiously concluded. The court 
must then leave Paris. Suspicion must be lulled until 
Conde's return, and a blow must then be struck which 
should at once restore the royal authority. In the 
meantime the malcontents were to be divided by all 
possible means. Circumstances were favourable to this 
design. To the whole trading class these troubles meant 
confusion and loss. Already the guilds had met the 
principal shopkeepers, and had determined to meddle in 
nothing against the King's service. The Queen took 
pains to gain over the provost of the merchants, the 
commander of the city militia, and the captains of the 
quarters. Mazarin himself treated directly with many 
members of the Parlement, and was so successful that 
even Broussel and Blancmesnil appeared at court. This 
however served only to exasperate the younger members. 
Acting under the instigation of De Retz they met pri- 



40 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1648. 

vately and determined to attack Mazarin personally by 
agitating for the revival of the edict of 161 7, which pro- 
scribed all foreigners who interfered in the government 
of France. 

Mazarin now carried out his plan. At six in the morning 
of September 13 the court left Paris for Ruel, ten miles 
Departure of distant, where it was joined by Orleans, 
the court. Conde. and the Duke of Longueville. This 

was followed by the dismissal of Chateauneuf and the 
arrest of Chavigni, old rivals of Mazarin, who were cabal- 
ling with the disaffected members of the Parlement. Far 
from intimidating, this blow served only to irritate that 
jealous body. A deputation was sent to the Queen to de- 
mand the release of Chavigni, the return of the court, and 
the presence of the Princes of the blood at the delibera- 
tions of the Parie7nent. These demands were angrily re- 
jected, Conde especially distinguishing himself by the 
violence of his language. The decrees of the Parle7nent 
were annulled by the Council, and it was half decided to 
supplant that body by royal commissions. The Parle- 
ment on its side prepared for defensive war. All business 
was discontinued, the city was secured against a surprise, 
and provisions were laid in for the expected siege. 

5. Mazarin and Cond£. 
Everything in this contest is spasmodic, except the 
will and the design of Mazarin. The uncertain temper 
of Conde, to whom all men looked as possessing the 
power of the sword, had especially to be reckoned with. 
It was well known that, much as he despised the 
Frondeurs, his hatred of Mazarin was a still more power- 
ful feeling. He had hitherto passionately refused to join 
in harassing the Crown. But now De Retz had little 
difficulty in persuading him to consent to a conference 



1648. The Parliamentary F?vnde. 41 

at which his jealousy of the Cardinal should be gratified 
by the latter's exclusion. Mazarin did not care to con- 
test the point. Whether the hatred against him was genu- 
ine may be doubted, but there is no doubt 
as to the vehemence of its expression at this S ents loa*" 
time. No story of his crimes was too wild for conference 

J from which 

credit ; he was a robber, a traitor, a gambler, Mazarin is 
a usurer, an atheist, and a debauchee ; to 
sack and burn Paris, to ruin France for his own greed, 
and to keep her at war with foreign nations that he might 
the better maintain himself in his usurped authority, 
were represented to be the objects of his life. 

The conference lasted ten days. It resulted in the 
declaration of Oct. 22, 1648, in which the 
greater number of the claims made by the of Oct. 22, 
Chamber of St. Louis were conceded. But 
the root idea of the constitution, that in the King's pres- 
ence nothing could be refused or combated which he 
personally announced, was preserved in the retention of 
the power to hold tits de justice, while as to arbitrary 
arrests a verbal promise, never intended to be kept, was 
all that could be wrung from Anne. ' If I consent to 
such requests,' said the Queen, 'my son would be no 
better than the King of a pack of cards.' 

Mazarin now devoted himself to again fixing the fickle 
humour of Conde. The task was not an easy one. But 
the Prince could not yet forget that he was of , 

royal blood, and he had the true caste con- secured by 
tempt for the ' gens de chicane ' of the Parlia- 
ment who pretended to tutor the King of France. His 
own interests moreover had not yet been awakened 
against the court. Mazarin, ever watchful and patient, 
was therefore before long successful. Conde yielded to 
the flatteries of the Queen and to the assurances of the 



42 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1649. 

Cardinal that the government should be conducted solely 
by his advice. In December the compact was closed by 
the cession to Conde of the governments of Stenai and 
four other important places. Bribery on a similar scale 
was equally successful with Orleans. 

6. The Court leaves Paris a second time. Beginning 
of Civil War. 

The court had meanwhile at the desire of the mer- 
chants returned to Paris. But the atmosphere was no 
Return of ^ ess charged with trouble than before. Dis- 

the court. appointed at the non-fulfilment of the 

Declaration of October 22 the Par lenient were again in 
uproar. De Retz, fully in his element, stirred up the 
flame of sedition to the utmost. He found assistance from 
the authors of the innumerable pamphlets known as 
' Mazarinades,' libellous writings against the Cardinal 
The 'Ma- an ^ the Queen, which, without pretensions 

zarinades.' to literary merit, tickled the ears of the 
Parisians with their mendacious and brutal allusions. 
Mazarin pointed out to the Queen that the revolution in 
England had been preceded by a similar phenomenon, 
and bade her remember that when, in order to stop such 
writings, Charles I. had sacrificed Strafford, he had but 
begun his own downfall by encouraging the Parliament 
to cry for further concessions. 

Secure for the time in the support of Conde and 

Orleans, the court now determined upon force. Mazarin 

had long planned to retire to St. Germain, 

Second * r . . 

withdrawal occupy the strategic points, and prevent the 
of the court. en trance of provisions into Paris. At three 
in the morning of January 5, 1649, the Queen left the 
Palais Royal a second time in haste and secrecy. At St. 
Germain she was joined by Mazarin, the Princes, ana the 



1 649. The Parliamentary Fronde. 43 

court. ' Paris, on its awakening, heard with stupor and 
affright of the departure. The citizens saw war, siege, 
and famine at their gates.' Undismayed however the 
Parlement met. All available measures of defence were 
taken ; provisions were hastily collected ; the gates were 
shut and guarded. The civil war had begun. 

7. The Twelve Weeks' War. 

Mazarin had been quietly preparing for this decisive 
action by collecting troops in the neighbourhood of Paris ; 
and although they were yet too few to form any real 
blockade, he was able so far to hinder the entry of 
supplies that serious inconvenience was soon felt. The 
shopkeepers, with a considerable body within the Parle- 
ment, were anxious to come to terms. But the earnest 
opponents of absolutism, with the discontented noblesse 
and the lower classes, were bent upon resistance. De Retz 
was ceaselessly active, and under his influence the mob 
was soon in a state of wild excitement ; the houses of 
known adherents of the court were pillaged, and any who 
attempted to escape to Ruel ran serious risk of their 
lives. An army of 12,000 men was raised, Organisa- 
De Retz furnishing a regiment of cavalry at tlon of Parls * 
his own expense ; and a heavy war-tax was voted for 
their payment. A royal edict ordering the Parlement to 
retire to Montargis was met by a vote to demand the 
immediate dismissal and banishment of Mazarin. 

The Frondeurs had indeed raised an army, but it was 
one that could not be trusted to meet the regular troops, 
and it was without leaders who could be opposed to 
Conde, the general du Mazarin, as he was now called. 
The want was partially supplied by the arrival of the 
Duke of Elbceuf, an old opponent of Richelieu ; he was 
at once named commander-in-chief. His dignity, how- 



44 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1649. 

ever, was short-lived. The divisions within the Conde 
family and the jealousy of Mazarin were skilfully made 
use of by De Retz and the Prince's sister, the Duchess 
of Longueville. They sent secretly to St. Germain to 
offer the post to Conti, Conde's brother, a youth both 
Desertion of physically and mentally infirm ; and on the 
!hekad?ng y ni S ht of January 7 Conti, Longueville, Mar- 
nobles, sillac, and La Mothe Houdancourt deserted 
the court. They were soon joined by Beaufort and by 
Bouillon, the brother of Turenne. 

Danger threatened from two other quarters. Turenne, 
the general of greatest repute in France after Conde, and 
Turenne's greatly Conde's superior in tactical skill, 

theTevoit in was on tne fr° nt i er w i tn a large body of 
Normandy. troops, partly French and partly Alsatian 
mercenaries, whom he was endeavouring to induce to 
follow him against the royal forces. Normandy, where 
the Longueville family was powerful, was preparing for 
revolt. The dangers however were well and coolly met. 
Normandy rose, but the Duke of Longueville, who had 
been sent thither by his wife, was completely kept in 
check by Harcourt for the King. And when Turenne 
had resolved to march to Paris, he found that before he 
could do so he should have to fight his own troops. The 
mercenaries had been made safe by the distribution of 
300,000 livres. Never had Mazarin applied money to 
better purpose. Turenne at once retired to Heilbronn, 
and thence to Holland, until the end of the twelve 
weeks' war. 

Meantime, within Paris, the insurrection was in full 
swing. The Bastille and the arsenal had been taken by 
the Frondeurs ; while the surprise of Charenton at the 
junction of the Marne and Seine secured for a time a 
free entry for provisions. But here the successes of the 



1 649. The Parliamentary Fronde. 45 

Frondeurs ceased ; an attempt by Beaufort to take Corbeil 
was ignominiously defeated. More than one sortie was 
driven back, and Charenton was recaptured by Conde 
on February 8. 

A natural reaction, headed by the clergy, began to 
declare itself. For a time the violent section fought hard 
to keep the upper hand. An emissary of the court who 
was found distributing loyal literature was closely im- 
prisoned. A herald from the King to the Reaction in 
Parlement was refused admittance on the fevour of the 
curious ground that heralds could pass only court- 
between enemies and equals, and that to receive him 
would be to admit that the Parlement was the enemy and 
the equal of the King. Still the credit of the irreconcil- 
ables was daily growing less, the process of disintegration 
being aided by the vexatious nature of the devices for 
raising money. 

To provide a fresh stimulus for this flagging spirit De 
Retz now began to intrigue directly with Spain. The 
Spaniards were ready enough to meet these intrigues 
advances, for they were anxious to avenge with Spain, 
their defeats in the field at Rocroy and Lens, and their 
discomfiture in diplomacy by the Treaty of Westphalia. 
On February 19 Conti informed the Parlement that an 
envoy of the Archduke Leopold, the governor of the 
Low Countries, prayed for audience. This envoy was a 
monk, sent indeed by the Archduke, but whose address to 
the Parleiiient was actually prepared for him by De Retz. 
His admission however roused forcible protests from the 
moderate party. ' Can it be,' exclaimed the president de 
Mesmes, ' that a Prince of the blood proposes to grant, 
amid the fleurs-de-lis, an audience to the representative 
of the bitterest enemy of the fleur-de-lis ? ' Further 
checks in skirmishes with the royal troops led to bicker- 



46 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1649. 

ings among generals who were rebels from selfishness 
alone, while the inconvenience and positive 

Effect of the r 

execution of distress which were now beginning to be felt 
were doing their natural work. An event 
moreover had occurred abroad which had a remarkable 
effect. The execution of Charles I. in England, so far 
from encouraging the Frondeurs, shocked the conscience 
of a people who, whatever else they might be fighting 
against, had no thought of fighting against monarchy; 
while the presence of Henrietta Maria in Paris, in need so 
great that she owed to De Retz the provision of a fire in 
the bitter winter weather, served to heighten the effect. 
Moreover, the news of Longueville's fiasco in Normandy 
and of Turenne's flight to Holland had by this time 
reached the harassed and disheartened city. Tired of 
rebellion which was not successful, of exac- 

A conference . 

determined tions from which no results were forthcom- 
ing, and of leaders who showed no capacity 
for leadership, the Parlement on February 28 decided to 
send deputies to treat with the court, though forbidden 
to hold communication with Mazarin. 

It was characteristic of Mazarin that he never at any 
time took public notice of personal slights. He was per- 
Mazarin's fectly willing now to humour the more violent 

peTsS 1 ° f members of the Parliament when they refused 
attacks. to treat with him in person. An arrangement 

was made by which the parties to the conference met on 
March 4 in separate rooms, and communicated with each 
other only through their secretaries. 

The following conditions were agreed to. The Parle- 
„ ,. . ment was to show its obedience by coming to 

Conditions . ,,.,.. • 

of the St. Germain to attend a lit de justice ; it was 

to hold no assembly without the royal permis- 
sion during 1649 ; all its arrets passed since January 6 were 



1649. The Parliamentary Fronde. 47 

to be annulled, including those against the Cardinal, as 
also those by the Council against the Parlement ; the troops 
in Paris were to be disbanded, and the inhabitants were 
to lay down their arms ; the Bastille and arsenal were to 
be given back to the King ; and a second envoy who had 
come from the Archduke was to be at once dismissed. 
On the other hand the King was to set all prisoners at 
liberty, to grant a general amnesty, and to return to Paris 
as soon as his affairs would allow; the declarations of 
July and October were to be confirmed ; the claims of the 
Parliaments of Rouen and Aix were to receive favourable 
treatment ; and finally the right of the Parlement to take 
part in State affairs was at length to be admitted by the 
appointment of a member of the Parlement to assist in 
the negotiations with Spain. 

Nothing but necessity would have wrung this from 
Mazarin. He knew however that Turenne had again 
offered an army to the insurgents, that the Archduke was 
about to invade France, and that if he did so the siege of 
Paris would have to be raised. For a moment it seemed 
as if even now the concessions were to no purpose. The 
energy of De Retz still kept up the violence of the extre- 
mists. The signature of Mazarin to the treaty made them 
furious ; they inveighed against the weak compliance of 
their representatives ; they demanded that the treaty 
should be burnt. Language borrowed from England was 
for the first time heard : ' The Kings made the Parlia- 
ments, it is true, but the people made the Kings.' The 
cry for a republic was actually raised. 

Once more it appeared prudent to give way. Leopold 
was already on French soil ; his vanguard ^ , 

3 ° Further 

had reached Pontavert on the Aisne. The concessions 

court receded so far as to relinquish the litde 

justice and the interdiction of the assemblies. Should 



48 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1649. 

this concession not satisfy the Frondeurs, it was deter- 
mined to attack Paris with all possible force, while the 
Weimarian general Erlach with the mercenaries in the 
pay of the court faced the Archduke. Meanwhile every 
effort was made to detach the generals of the Fronde 
from the Parlement. It was a mere question of money. 
With the single exception of De Retz, they handed in the 
personal demands upon the concession of which they 

offered to come over to the court. ' Roche- 
spirit of the foucauld demanded the tabouret for his wife, 

and for himself eighteen thousand livres ; 
Conti claimed a position in the Council and the govern- 
ment of some strong place ; Longueville wanted an im- 
portant government in Normandy, with reversion to his 
children ; Elbceuf asked for the payment of large sums 
which he claimed to be due to him and his wife ; Beau- 
fort demanded Britanny for his father, Vendome, and 
money for himself; Bouillon asked for himself a vast sum 
of money as compensation for the loss of Sedan, and for 
Turenne the government of Alsace and Philippsburg ; 
Houdancourt required 700,000 livres.' Their greed was 
satisfied sufficiently to win them for the time. Mazarin 
steadfastly refused to grant away provinces or strong 
places, and they like true hagglers took what they could 
get in money and in promises. On April 1, all coher- 
ence of resistance being thus at an end, the Parlement 
met under a strong guard, for fear of the mob, and ratified 
the peace. It was obvious, however, that an arrangement 
which had been brought about by necessity on either 
side and by which neither party had gained its objects, 
was destined to be but a truce. The discontent with 
Mazarin remained as it was, the nobles were neither 
contented nor intimidated, and the Government felt 
that it had succeeded in obtaining a virtual victory 



1 649. The Parliamentary Fronde. 49 

less by its own strength than by the weakness of its 
enemies. 

Had the provinces to any considerable extent espoused 
the cause of the Fronde, Mazarin could scarcely have 
escaped complete discomfiture. But Britanny, the most 
important, had remained thoroughly loyal ; Champagne 
and Poitou, though excited, were easily kept in sub- 
mission, and the revolt in Normandy had no popular 
basis. In Aix in Provence the Frondeurs had taken 
up arms. By wise conciliation however Mazarin had 
secured their submission without bloodshed, „ , . 

' Behaviour 

and had induced the Parlement of Aix, by of the 

r . ... 1 11 t provinces. 

some increase of its privileges, to annul all the 
acts passed during the late troubles. The really serious 
outbreak was in Guienne, where a feud was Outbreak in 
raging between Epernon, the governor, and Guienne. 
the Parlement of Bordeaux. The result was disastrous 
to the Bordelais. On May 16 the rebels were defeated 
in a battle which soon became a massacre in which three 
thousand men were slaughtered. Mazarin seized the 
opportunity to endeavour to re-establish the Intendants 
in the provinces. Foiled in this, he partially gained his 
end in another way, by choosing commissioners from the 
Parliamentary families, and by thus associating the 
Parlement itself with the reorganization of the provincial 
administration. 

During the daily complications of this struggle Maza- 
rin had with unwavering firmness been conducting the 
negotiations for peace with Spain. Firmness The war 
indeed was needed ; for Spain, relying upon Firmness 1 of 
his difficulties, had been endeavouring to Mazarin. 
impose hard conditions. It is significant of his confi- 
dence in the momentary character of those difficul- 
ties that from the Treaty of Westphalia he steadfastly 



50 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1649. 

refused the slightest concessions. Even now, though the 
Spaniards were on French soil, and though Ypres and 
St. Venant had both fallen into their hands, his only 
thought was to win some brilliant success in the field, 
which, like the victories of Rocroy and Lens, should 
smooth the path at home. Harcourt therefore, the ablest 
of the royal officers after Conde, was sent to besiege 
Cambrai, while in order to be near the seat of war the 
court took up its quarters at Amiens. The Spaniards 
however were able to throw reinforcements into the place 
and the siege had to be raised. The check was bril- 
liantly redeemed by the capture of the fortress of Conde, 
commanding the junction of the Aisne and the Scheldt. 
And although this place had in turn to be abandoned, the 
great point had been gained of proving that France was 
still in a state of elastic vigour. 

Mazarin meanwhile continued his dealings with the 
leaders of the Fronde. His first step was significant of 
Neeotia- *-he cnaract er of the time. Through the agency 

tions with f one f her lovers he secured the Duchess 

the leaders 

of the of Chevreuse, the chief instigator of the plots 

with Spain, and through her he gained over 
in turn the support of many of his most dangerous op- 
ponents. Two important exceptions however occurred 
to his conquests. Beaufort declined all bribes. He pre- 
ferred to remain the ' Roi des Halles.' De Retz, though 
he attended the court, steadfastly refused to see Mazarin. 
At length, on August 18, 1649, it was thought safe for 
the court to return. The King's cortege was accompanied 
through the streets with enthusiastic cries of 

Return of •-■»■■ 

the court to welcome. Even the hatred against Mazarin, 
always probably more fictitious than real, ap- 
peared to have vanished, and he was everywhere received 
with respect. The Parliamentary Fronde was at an end, 



1 649. The New Fronde. 51 

and to all appearances the danger and confusion were 
past. As a matter of fact a storm, to which the last had 
been child's play, was about to break upon Mazarin. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE NEW FRONDE. 

i. Defection of Conde. 
Hitherto the government had been on the whole sup- 
ported by Conde. This support was now to be with- 
drawn. The great captain, with no sound Disaffection 
cause of complaint, was literally in the sulks. of ^ ond e. 
He considered the reward of his merits and services 
insufficient ; he was jealous of the permanent political 
support which, by the marriages of his nieces, Mazarin 
was acquiring among the great families, especially that 
of Vendome, and he could not brook the supremacy of 
the Cardinal in the councils of the Queen. Regarding 
himself as the first man in the kingdom, within measur- 
able distance of the crown ; urged on by the adulation of 
the young noblesse, and by the comparison which De 
Retz drew between himself and the great Duke of Guise ; 
he now determined to break with Mazarin. It is the 
course of folly and treason into which he was led by this 
enmity that constitutes the struggle of the New Fronde. 

Unlike the Parliamentary Fronde, this movement had 
absolutely no title to respect. The ostensible and in 
some respects the real cry of the former was 

r J Character of 

the cry for reform. But the leaders of the the New 
New Fronde never even pretended to desire 
reform. Their contempt for the bourgeois magistracy 
was as deep as was their hatred for the patient minister 



52 E7iglish Restoration and Louis XIV. 1649. 

who stood ever in their path. It was a barren, aimless, 
and intensely selfish struggle for power, the last riot of 
the feudal spirit in France. 

An opportunity for a quarrel was soon found. Conde, 

besides presenting demands on his own account, required 

, . that Longueville should have the government 

Quarrel of ° 

Conde with of Pont de l'Arche in Normandy, a fortress 
which practically dominated Rouen. Stead- 
fast to his policy of refusing to weaken the royal authority 
by the grant of fortresses, Mazarin braved the prince's 
anger. Conde, furious at the rebuff, publicly quarrelled 
with the Cardinal when asked to sign the contract be- 
tween Mercceur, Vendome's son, and Laura Mancini, 
Mazarin's niece. In a moment all the Cardinal's enemies 
rallied to the attack. Conde determined to strike his 
blow by inducing the Parlement once more to bring for- 
ward the proscription law of 16 17 (see p. 40). Mazarin 
met the danger in characteristic fashion. He advised the 
Queen to write a letter to himself, ordering him to take 
Conde's advice regarding the nomination of all generals 
and principal officers of the Crown. No one 

Temporary x x 

reconciiia- was to be removed, no benefices to be filled 
up, no important resolution come to, without 
his assent ; and Mazarin was to promise to support 
Conde's interest under all circumstances. Finally the 
minister was to require the Prince's consent to any 
marriage of members of his family. These terms were 
accepted by Conde, who in return promised Mazarin his 
support and friendship. The submission was in appear- 
ance complete, and the result was probably what Mazarin 
had intended. The Frondeurs, indignant at this treaty 
with the common enemy, broke with Conde. Mazarin at 
once turned the feeling to his own advantage. He bought 
up Mme. de Montbazon, Beaufort's mistress, and under 



1 649. The New Fronde. 53 

her influence the Duke at length promised all that was 
asked him. Through the Duchess of Chevreuse, who 
had an old grudge against Conde's sister the Duchess 
of Longueville, and who recognised that in the end the 
Prince would have to yield to the astuteness of Mazarin 
and the firmness of the Queen, he secured the inactivity 
of De Retz (to whom, it is said, the Duchess sacrificed 
her daughter's honour in payment), and of those who 
followed his lead. Conde himself by two intemperate 
acts came to his aid. By his demand for _, ,. 

' . Conde 

the title of ' Prince ' for his friends, La estranges the 
Rochefoucauld, Bouillon, and La Tremouille, 
he insulted the rest of the noblesse ; and the Queen and 
Mazarin did their best to encourage the opposition which 
was excited. Still greater was the irritation caused by the 
admission of two of the friends of Mme. de Longueville 
to the privilege, most coveted of all distinctions by the 
ladies of the court, of being seated in the presence of the 
Queen. The guerre des tabourets, as it was Guerre des 
called from the ' tabouret ' or footstool placed tabourets. 
before the chair, divided the court. The noblesse appealed 
to the Queen; Conde passionately defended his sister's 
friends. The Queen and Mazarin desired nothing better 
than to throw upon Conde the odium of asking for the 
distinctions objected to, and to acquire the credit of sup- 
pressing them. They therefore revoked the nominations, 
and earned the formally expressed gratitude of the whole 
body of the noblesse. 

Not content with these acts of arrogance, Conde was 
now showing a reckless want of patriotism in encourag- 
ing the Parlement of Bordeaux to a second revolt, thus 
weakening France in the part most open to p r0 g ress f 
Spanish attack. This was the more culpa- the wan 
ble, as the Spaniards had been making way on the 



54 English Restoratio7i and Louis XIV. 1649. 

north-east. They had taken La Motte-au-Bois, and 
were threatening Dunkirk and Bergues. To preserve 
these two important places was, in all the agitations of 
the moment, Mazarin's constant anxiety. It was in this 
attitude of anxious hope and of unwavering determina- 
tion to yield no inch of ground to the foreign enemies of 
France that the real greatness of Mazarin's character was 
most conspicuous. 

Meanwhile the breach between the Frondeurs and 

Conde had been rendered complete. A fictitious plot 

was enacted, the authorship of which was 

Complete r 

breach be- equally ascribed to, and equally denied by, 
and the the Cardinal and the Frondeurs. A riot 

Frondeurs. was exc i te d am0 ng the Paris mob, during 
which a shot was fired into Conde's carriage, and one 
of his retainers wounded. Conde was persuaded that 
his own assassination had been intended. He demanded 
justice, and Mazarin affected eagerly to espouse his 
cause. Beaufort, De Retz, La Boullaie, and Broussel 
were formally indicted for conspiracy. Each day they 
appeared in court with their friends and retainers, all 
well armed. Conde and Orleans brought bands of 
gentlemen similarly prepared for fight into the great 
hall of justice. It seemed momentarily probable that 
the trial would be changed into a sanguinary conflict. 
In the end the Frondeurs managed so to prolong the 
proceedings that the whole affair was postponed to De- 
cember 29. 

But before that day another change had come over the 
shifting scene. Conde by his insolent egotism was inces- 
Conde'sin- santly playing into Mazarin's hands. He 
soience. now rcm sed to exasperation the haughty 

spirit of Anne of Austria, who had long been chafing 
under his control. By his threats and violence he had 



1650. The New Fronde. 55 

compelled her to undergo the humiliation of consenting 
to receive at court one of his most vicious dependents, 
who had insulted her by a declaration of love. He had, 
too, in the face of her commands, supported the Duke of 
Richelieu, grand-nephew of the great Cardinal, in a mar- 
riage which brought him entirely under his own influence, 
and in an audacious seizure of Havre, the most important 
harbour and fortress of the kingdom. The danger of 
allowing this power to remain in Conde's hands was too 
great to be permitted to continue. Anne and Mazarin, 
supported by Orleans, whose jealousy of Conde had been 
sedulously fostered, determined on a step for which the 
isolation which Conde had created for himself rendered 
the moment favourable. They determined to arrest the 
Prince. Heavy prices had of course to be paid for the 
support indispensable to the success of so bold a stroke. 
The interest of Beaufort was gained by the gift of the 
admiralty to his father Vendome, after it had been re- 
fused to Conde, with reversion to Beaufort himself, and 
by that of the viceroyalty of Catalonia to Mercceur. The 
nomination to a cardinalate was promised to De Retz, 
and heavy gratifications were given to his friends and to 
those of Mme. de Chevreuse. The utmost Arrest of 
secrecy as to the intention of the court hav- conti%nd 
ing been maintained, Conde, Conti, and Longueviik. 
Longueville were then suddenly arrested on January 
18, 1650, and imprisoned at Vincennes. 'The net has 
been thrown well,' said Orleans, 'it has caught at once 
a lion, a monkey, and a fox.' An attempt of Conde's 
immediate friends to create a tumult in Paris served only 
to show how little he could count upon support there. 
On the 19th the Queen informed the Parlement of the 
reasons for the step, and that body, as tired as herself 
of Conde's masterfulness, received the communication 



56 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1650. 

with the utmost respect. The bourgeois, mindful of the 
destruction of their houses and gardens in the suburbs 
during the siege, were equally inclined to concur, and 
Paris remained absolutely peaceful. 

2. The Fronde in the Provinces. 

The capital had been secured ; it remained to pacify 
the kingdom. Condehad warm partisans in Normandy, 
Burgundy, Guienne, Berri, Champagne, and Limousin ; 
while Turenne at Stenai, a strong fortress commanding 
the Meuse, and the great roads to Luxemburg and Sedan, 
was a constant danger. 

But Mazarin's activity was all-sufficing ; and his skill 
and patience in dealing with the danger, in conciliating 
where conciliation was possible and in pressing the 
advantage he had gained by the imprisonment of Conde, 
were remarkable. He was well aware that that imprison- 
ment could not last long ; he was determined therefore 
that when the Prince was again at liberty he should find 
himself deprived of his former sources of mischievous 
Danger in power. Normandy presented the most press- 
Normandy. ing . d an g er Any disturbance there, closing 
as it did the highway of the Seine, threatened distress 
and even famine to Paris. The Duke of Longueville's 
officers held the fortresses of Pont de l'Arche, Dieppe, 
Rouen, Caen, St. Lo, Cherbourg, and Granville. The 
Duchess had escaped thither and was doing her best to 
excite resistance. Following the plan he ever afterwards 
adopted, Mazarin decided, while taking ample measures 
for the safety of the other threatened quarters, to lead the 
Queen and the young King into the province. Before 
starting he made sure of the fidelity of Paris by the 
distribution of heavy bribes to the leading members of 
the Parletnent. Orleans was left in command, but a 



1650. The New Fronde. 57 

devoted adherent of the Cardinal, Michel le Tellier, was 
placed at his side. 

The court reached Rouen on February 5, having re- 
ceived on the way the submission of Pont de 1 'Arche, the 
governor of which was easily won by a heavy The court in 
bribe. Within fifteen days Normandy was Normandy, 
safe. The Duchess of Longueville had been compelled 
to fly ; Dieppe had been secured by force of arms, and 
Havre had been obtained from Richelieu by the gift of the 
tabouret to his wife. A bribe of 12,000 crowns bought 
the submission of the Chateau of Caen ; and the title of 
Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Normandy to the head of 
the turbulent family of Matignon secured St. Lo, Cher- 
bourg, and Granville. All disaffected garrisons and 
officers were changed, and the fortifications of Pont de 
l'Arche were destroyed. Titles of nobility, judiciously 
distributed among the members of the Parlement of 
Rouen, gained the sympathies of the bourgeoisie. On 
the 2 1 st the court returned to Paris, bringing in their 
train the Duke and Duchess of Richelieu, with several 
of the leading noblesse of Normandy, as virtual hostages 
for the fidelity of the province. 

Similar successes had been obtained in the other parts 
of the kingdom. Dijon, the capital of Burgundy, had 
surrendered, with many more of Conde's strongholds. 
Stenai, and Bellegarde on the Saone, were the only 
strong places in the north of France which still defied 
the royal authority. 

In spite of the submission of Dijon, the temper of the 
people in Burgundy still threatened disturbance, and 
Mazarin at once decided to try there also The court in 
the effect of the King's presence. By lavish Burgundy, 
bribery he again assured the steadfastness of his jealous 
and temporary allies. The Duchess of Chevreuse was 



58 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1650. 

especially insatiable in her demands and Mazarin was as 
ungrudging in satisfying them. During the whole of this 
expedition, his correspondence shows him incessantly 
occupied with keeping unbroken the brittle cords which 
bound for a time Ue Retz, Beaufort, Orleans, and the 
Duchess to his designs. 

The court reached Dijon in the middle of March. The 
siege of Bellegarde was at once undertaken in spite of the 
The siege difficulties attending the rainy season. Ma- 

of Befie- tUre zarin strengthened his force by calling to its 
garde. a id the troops from Weimar who had refused 

to follow Turenne, and he heightened the enthusiasm of 
the soldiers by bringing the young King within the lines. 
A curious scene, very characteristic of the nature of the 
fight, now occurred. The cries of ' Vive le Roi ! ' which 
went up from the royal troops were raised with equal 
enthusiasm by the besieged upon the walls. They sent 
word to Louis that in honour of his arrival the fire from 
the place would be suspended for the whole day, nor 
would it be directed towards the quarter where his tent 
was placed. On April 11, thanks to Mazarin's good sense 
in giving the most favourable conditions, the place sur- 
rendered. The commander was taken into favour, and 
the garrison of 800 cavalry was incorporated with the 
royal army. 

Stenai now remained the sole rampart of the rebel 
cause in the north of France. There Turenne had 
Treaty been joined by the adventurous Duchess of 

SpJnand Longueville, who was indefatigable in keep- 

Turenne. } n g fa e spirit of confusion awake among the 

Frondeurs in Paris, the discontented Bordelais, and 
wherever opposition to Mazarin was possible. She nego- 
tiated, too, an alliance with Spain, which was met by a 
royal declaration, registered by the Parlement on May 



1650. The New Fronde. 59 

16, that the Duchess, Bouillon, Turenne, and La Roche- 
foucauld, were guilty of high treason and outlawed, and 
that their property was confiscated to the Crown. This 
new alliance had little effect. The Spaniards indeed 
took Catelet on June 2 ; but they failed before the heroic 
resistance of the governor of the town of Guise. No com- 
mon purpose existed between Spain and Turenne ; the 
former cared only for the enfeeblement of France ; the 
latter for securing the family government of Sedan. 

Scarcely had the court returned from Burgundy, when 
it was called away to Guienne, where, under the insist- 
ance of the mother of Conde, the hatred of Revolt in 
£pernon the governor, and offers of help Guienne. 
from Spain, the smouldering mass had broken into open 
flame. 

Bordeaux shut its gates against the royal forces, and 
refused to accept an amnesty from the benefits of which 
were excluded only those who had treated with Spain. 
For all acts of severity on the part of the Government 
they exacted full reprisals, and prepared for a vigorous 
resistance to a siege. That this should last but a short 
while was for Mazarin of the utmost importance, for he 
was confronted by dangers on every side. Intercepted 
despatches proved that Bouillon was directly communi- 
cating with Spain. In Italy things were going badly, for 
Porto Longone and Piombino had fallen before the Span- 
ish attack. In the north the Spaniards had taken La 
Capelle, Vervins, and Marie ; Turenne had „ 

1 Progress 

captured Rethel and Chateau Porcien, and of the 
the flying peasantry were carrying dismay and"' 
into Paris itself. There too the faction of J g Son''in 
the Princes was continually strengthening Paris - 
itself, while the streets were placarded by still another 
party, who appealed to the people to seek their safety 



60 English Restoration and Lotus XIV. 1650. 

in the reconciliation of the various members of the royal 
family and in the banishment of Mazarin. Orleans was 
wavering once more, and conspiracies had been discov- 
ered in Normandy. Mazarin felt the urgent necessity of 
having his hands free. At length, on September 29, he 
secured his end with the appearance of victory, by a 
treaty with the Bordelais that, in token of obedience, the 
town should suffer a royal entry at the head of the army, 
should lay down their arms, and should 

Agreement J 

with raze their fortifications ; while in return 

£pernon was removed, the exiled council- 
lors restored, and a complete and comprehensive am- 
nesty granted to the city. 

Mazarin at once turned to face his enemies at Pans 
and to take the offensive against Turenne. He refused 
further bribes to De Retz, and he determined at all costs 
to reconquer Rethel and to check the alarming advance 
of Spain. With infinite pains he managed to keep the 
Frondeurs still divided, and having removed the prison- 
ers to Havre for greater security, set out 

Campaign . ° J 

of Rethel, with the court for the seat of war, reaching 

Reims on Dec. 5. Siege was at once laid 
to Rethel. Mazarin himself, though suffering severely 
from gout and gravel, took up his quarters in the camp 
to encourage the soldiers, and displayed the utmost 
activity in providing not only for the greater matters of 
organisation, but for all those details in which the well- 
being of an army consists, down to the men's great-coats. 
So vigorously was the place attacked that it surrendered 
on Dec. 13. Scarcely had the garrison marched out 
when Turenne appeared to relieve it. His men how- 
ever were tired, and, vigorously pushed by the royal 
troops, he retreated to an impregnable position on 
rising ground about twenty-two miles from Rethel. It 



1650. The New Fronde. 61 

appeared, however, not for the first or last time, as 
though when engaged in this unpatriotic warfare the 
greatest masters of the art lost their skill and judgment. 
Turenne allowed his army to descend from „ , , 

J Battle of 

the heights and spread itself over the inter- Rethel, Dec. 
vening valley. Without an instant's hesi- I? ' I5 °* 
tation the royal marshal, Du Plessis-Praslin, dashed at 
them with his whole force. Turenne was in a few 
minutes utterly routed. Almost the whole of his infan- 
cy. 3>5°° strong, were slain, the royal troops refusing 
quarter to all of French blood. Champagne was cleared 
of the enemy, and even Stenai itself prepared for a siege. 
One thing in especial was proved by this 
campaign. With or without Conde, the of the royal 
royal troops could be counted upon. That 
this was due to Mazarin's ceaseless care to render the 
service popular, that the tendency of a standing army to 
rally to the Crown had been strengthened vastly by his 
management, is clear. He doubtless felt that, come 
what might, he would have to depend upon force in the 
end. It was for this reason that he had caused the young 
King to live among the troops. It was for this, too, that 
he was eager for a brilliant success at Rethel, and that 
he displayed such care for the personal comfort of his 
soldiers. That care did not cease with success. ' I 
despatched last evening,' he wrote to Le Tellier on the 
16th, 'a great train of bread, wine, lint, and medicines, 
with surgeons to help the wounded, and in addition I 
have sent my own carriages to convey the disabled per- 
sons of quality, with money for distribution among the 
officers.' 

Mazarin might well look back with pride upon what 
he had accomplished. Tortured as he was with disease, 
surrounded by open and secret enemies, and only wield- 



62 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1650. 

ing his power in the name of an infant King, he had 
allowed no note of weakness to escape him, and had met 
What every danger with wary and supple resolu- 

^com- D had tion - B Y th e imprisonment of Conde he had 
plished. declared that the Crown should no longer be 

defied by any subject, however powerful. By dexterous 
management he had secured temporary quiet in the capital, 
and he had then, first in Normandy, next in Burgundy, 
afterwards in Guienne, and now in Champagne, stifled in- 
testine war and driven the stranger from the soil ; and as he 
returned to Paris he could boast that no town in France 
save Stenai refused obedience to the King. He had cre- 
ated an army devoted to the Crown ; and while stretching 
conciliation to its limits in the endeavour to unite all 
Frenchmen to labour for one object, he had steadfastly 
refused during the worst periods of danger and doubt 
to yield the slightest concession to Spain. Mazarin was 
a great card-player, and it was said that he always rose 
from the table a winner, whatever might have been his 
losses during the game. This aptly illustrates his conduct 
of great affairs. No view of his character is more false 
than that which represents him as a mere political adven- 
turer. That is the view which contemporaries, blinded by 
the storms through which his piercing eye saw land and 
safety, might fairly take. But ultimate success in designs 
far distant and hidden from the eyes of others was all he 
cared for ; in his determination to compass that he never 
wavered, and he played the great game of politics with a 
patience, a coolness, and a dexterous use of every turn 
of statecraft that compel our wonder even now. 



[651. The Rebellion of Conde. 63 



CHAPTER V. 

THE REBELLION OF CONDE. 

i. Failure of Conde. Majority of Louis XIV. 
Mazarin returned to Paris as a conqueror. He might 
well have hoped to find his path easy. But the jealousy 
of ministerial absolutism turned his very sue- Exile of 
cesses to his disadvantage. Before the year Ma zarm. 
was out, De Retz was attacking him with all the old 
vehemence before the Parlement, which passed a vote 
demanding his dismissal. It was sustained by the 
assemblies of the clergy and of the provincial nobility 
which De Retz had brought together in Paris, and by 
Orleans, whose fickle support had once more been 
secured by this master of intrigue. The authority of the 
regency had from the first rested upon the alliance of 
Mazarin with either Conde or Orleans ; it now stood 
defenceless. 

Once more the Queen, mindful of Charles I. and 
Strafford, refused to give up her servant. But Mazarin, 
who recognised that it was in hatred of himself alone 
that the various parties were united, with calmer wisdom 
determined to withdraw. On the night of February 6, 1 65 1 , 
he secretly left Paris. At Lillebonne, on the 10th, he heard 
from Anne that she had been forced to give Release of 
orders for the release of the Princes. Before the Prlnces - 
the messenger had reached Havre he was there in per- 
son. If the Princes were to be set free, he was deter- 
mined to secure if possible their gratitude by releasing 
them himself. This done he left France, and sought the 
protection of the Elector of Cologne, But though absent, 



64 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1651. 

he was none the less powerful. More than once, while 
in the thick of the confusion, he had appeared partially- 
bewildered. From a distance he had a far more complete 
control of the situation, and the skill with which he 
guided the Queen through all her difficulties was most 
remarkable. 

For the moment it doubtless seemed to Conde, as he 
entered Paris amid the enthusiasm of the streets, that 
Difficulties tne g am e was m ms hands. To wrest the 
of Conde. regency from the Queen, summon the Etats 

Generaux, and frame a new constitution, appeared well 
within his power. He soon recognised that such a 
scheme was hopeless. The Parlement feared that their 
privileges would be weakened ; De Retz, the Duchess of 
Chevreuse, and their friends, had no intention of sub- 
ordinating themselves to Conde. Longueville, Mole, 
Bouillon, and many others, were alienated by his arro- 
gance, while the house of Vendome was divided through 
the affection of Mercceur for Mazarin's niece, whom he 
shortly married. Conde was soon driven to see that his 
only chance of supremacy lay in coming to terms with 
the Queen herself. 

His conditions were such that, had they been granted, 
he would have been virtual King of France. Without 
hesitation Mazarin urged the Queen to reject them, and 
to form in turn a close agreement with the Frondeurs. 
They demanded a Frondeur ministry, and the nomina- 
tion to a cardinalate for De Retz ; and on these terms they 
engaged to further the recall of Mazarin, and 

Alliance of ° ° 

the Queen to allow the court to leave Pans. The mere 

Frondeurs suggestion of Mazarin's recall however 

Condi' brought about in turn an alliance between 

Conde and the Parlement. The Prince left 
Paris and refused to return until the chief official adherents 



165 1. The Rebellio?i of Conde. 65 

of Mazarin had been dismissed. The Queen replied that 
she would sooner go into a cloister. Once anc i of 
again Mazarin succeeded in persuading her ^' ParTia h 
to give way. He felt the necessity of not ment - 
allowing the understanding between Conde and the 
Parlentent to become permanent, and he knew that with 
time his best friend would probably be Conde himself. 
His hopes were fully justified. By his insolent refusal to 
visit the Queen and the King, and by his general arro- 
gance, the Prince rapidly alienated his friends in the 
Parlement, and thus robbed himself of his only support. 
Across the troubled scene of the last five years the 
monarchy had been guided up to an event of supreme 
importance. On September 7, with the full Majority of 
concurrence of the Parlement, which had t XIV- 

sept. 7, 

been gratified by a fresh decree against l6 5*- 
Mazarin, and with every circumstance of rejoicing, was 
celebrated the majority of Louis XIV. 

The proceedings of the day, in which royalty appeared 
to the people in all its splendour, as the personification 
of the unity and power of France, are recorded in great 
detail. From one of the tribunes of the Parlement the 
ambassadors of the foreign powers looked down upon 
the inauguration of the epoch which was to establish the 
supremacy of France ; from the other the exiled widow 
of Charles I. gazed upon a scene which must have added 
by contrast a bitterness to the downfall of all her hopes. 
From the crowd of great nobles one figure alone was 
absent. As Louis prepared to set out for the Parlement 
a letter was handed him, in which Conde expressed his 
regret that fear for his personal safety prevented him from 
attending the ceremony. The contemptuous refusal of 
the young King to open the letter well illustrated the 
changed conditions of the contest. From the moment 

F 



66 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1651. 

the majority was declared, the Princes of the blood, until 
now rivals of the Crown, became subjects and subjects 
alone. Nothing was left for Conde but submission or 
fighting-. Should he choose the latter he would no longer 
be fighting only against evil advisers; he would be a 
rebel against a King in the plenitude of his authority, 
supported by the instincts of a nation. 

2. Rebellion of Conde. 

Into rebellion however he threw himself with charac- 
teristic impetuosity. At Bordeaux he was enthusiastically 
Conde takes received. The great families of La Roche- 
up arms. foucauld, Rohan, La Force, La Tremouille, 

also upheld his cause in the south of France ; Daugnon 
brought him a fleet ; Marsin, the royal governor of Cata- 
lonia, carried over his best troops. Thus strengthened, 
and liberally supplied with money and men by Spain in 
return for the possession of a harbour on the Dordogne, 
he determined to defy the Crown. A royal declaration 
was at once issued depriving the Prince of all his honours 
and governments, and attainting him of high treason ; 
and the declaration was registered by the Parle7nent on 
December 6. 

Conde had underrated the resources of the government. 
An immediate progress through Poitou, Sain- 
the Govern- tonge, and Anjou secured the quiet of these 
districts. Harcourt defeated La Rochefou- 
cauld, relieved Cognac, and took La Rochelle from 
Daugnon. Conde, who had hastened to succour La 
Rochelle, was himself beaten at Tonnai-Charente, and 
was compelled to fall back upon the Dordogne. He now 
sought for allies. 

In one powerful quarter he had great hopes. There 
had for long been existing among the Bordelais a strong 



1 65 1. The Rebellion of Ovule. 67 

Republican feeling, and this had been carefully en- 
couraged by agents from England. As _ .. 

° J ° ° Conde 

early as 1650 the help of England had been applies to 
formally asked against the government, and 
an offer made in return of a port on the Gironde, and of 
La Rochelle. These offers were now renewed. 

Cromwell however prudently sent to the south of 
France to ascertain the real position of affairs. His 
messenger reported that, secure in their religion through 
Mazarin's wise observance of former promises, the 
Huguenots gave no sign ; that the Fronde was a frivolous 
and discredited faction ; and that as for Conde himself, 
' stultus est et garrulus, et venditur a suis Cardinali.' 

In another direction Conde was equally unsuccessful. 
The Duke of Lorraine, for eighteen years a duke without 
a duchy, was always ready to sell himself 
and the army with which he wandered on Duke of 
the frontier to the highest bidder. Conde 
now applied to him, and Spain seconded the request. 
But Mazarin, by holding before him the prospect of a 
repossession of his estates, succeeded for the time in 
baffling this design. 

The moment had now come for Mazarin to reappear 
on the scene. Since the middle of October he had 
transferred his quarters to Dinant, on the Return of 
frontier. Thence he had kept up an active Mazarin. 
correspondence with such of the governors of the pro- 
vinces and commanders of the northern fortresses as were 
in his interest, and he had collected there a well-equipped 
force of 7,000 men — the Mazarins — devoted to himself. 
With this army he crossed the frontier on ^ 

J 1 urenne 

December 24, and undeterred by the fulmi- joins the 

nations of the Parlement, which went so far 

as to set a price upon his head, marched rapidly through 



68 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1652. 

France and joined the King and Queen at Poitiers on Janu- 
ary 30, 1652. He had brought with him, as the first-fruits 
of the King's majority, something more important than 
even his army or his counsel : he had brought Turenne. 
They came at a critical moment. Conde indeed had 
again been outmanoeuvred on the Dordogne. But danger 
_ . . , was threatening from the north. The Duke 

Critical 

state of of Nemours had collected a mixed army of 

French and Spaniards, and was now march- 
ing to join the forces under Beaufort, which Orleans, 
who had once more changed sides, had raised between 
the Loire and the Seine. 

The emergency was boldly met by Mazarin. He led 
the court to the Loire, and at once took the offensive. 
Battle of On March 29 Beaufort and Nemours were 

liIfchM beaten by Turenne at Jargeau. They imme- 

l6 52. diately marched to Montargis to place them- 

selves between Paris and the royal forces. 

At this moment Conde suddenly arrived in their 
camp. Disheartened at his failure in Guienne, and 
warned of the danger on the Loire, he determined to 
Battle of take the command there. He at once made 

Aj e rif 7"' nis presence felt. Falling by night upon one 

1652. division of the King's army, he routed it, and 

almost captured the court. The skill of Turenne, who 
came up in haste, and who with numbers not a third of 
those of Conde prevented him from pursuing his advan- 
tage, alone averted a complete disaster to the royal cause. 

Conde hereupon betook himself to Paris. Orleans 
was there in his interest, with a considerable force. 
Conde goes But the Parlement, though still hating Maza- 
Stsueof the r ^ n > was unwilling to oppose directly a King 
capital. whose majority had been declared. And 

above all, there was steadily forming itself among the 



1652. The Rebellion of Conde. 69 

wearied bourgeoisie a fresh party, who saw in the success of 
the Crown their only chance of the repose for which they 
longed. Thus foiled Conde turned to the mob. Anarchy 
was soon raging, for Turenne was gradually hemming in 
the city, and the people were furious with the Parlement, 
which seemed powerless to bring their mis- Battle of 
eries to an end. The news that Turenne fetampes, 
had avenged Bleneau by a brilliant victory 
over Conde's Spanish forces at Etampes on May 4 
increased the frenzy. The populace clamoured for some- 
thing that should end their suspense, and turned their 
anger against the Parlement and Conde alike. An 
attack by the royal forces enabled Conde to draw the 
people into participation in the rebellion. With an armed 
but undisciplined mob he inflicted a serious check at 
St. Cloud upon Turenne, who thereupon undertook 
instead the siege of Etampes, in which the remains of 
Conde's force were shut up. The siege failed through a 
strange intervention. The Duke of Lorraine 

Appearance 

marched from the frontier, and appeared of the Duke 
before Paris, with his bandit army of 10,000 
men, wasting the country as he came. He had come in 
the pay of Spain to help the princes. He kept his word 
by a peaceful agreement with Turenne that the siege of 
Etampes should be raised, and then, outmanoeuvred by 
that commander, and moved by a bribe from Mazarin 
higher than Conde could offer, returned to the frontier 
after a fortnight's stay. The troops of Conde succeeded in 
escaping from Etampes and reached the suburbs of Paris. 
But the city guards, angry at the devastation which they 
witnessed, shut the gates, and refused them entrance. 
They encamped therefore at St. Cloud, and there Conde 
joined them. 
Meantime Paris was given up to anarchy. The mem- 



yo English Restoration a?id Louis XIV. 1652. 

bers of the Parlemeni were attacked in the streets, and 
at length that body suspended its sittings. Many fled to 
the court. Mazarin and Turenne, reinforced by 3,000 
men, now determined to strike the long-deferred blow. 
On July 2, Conde's army was caught on the march in the 
Defeat of streets of the Faubourg St. Antoine. A 

Faubourg £ murderous conflict of several hours, in which 
St. Antome. t ^e p r i nce displayed his accustomed bravery, 
resulted in his total defeat. Hemmed in between Tu- 
renne and the walls of Paris, he would have been utterly 
crushed had not his friends within the city, at the moment 
when Turenne was preparing a final attack, thrown open 
the gates to his shattered troops, and checked the further 
advance of the royalist forces by a cannonade from the 
Bastile. The immediate result was further violence and 
massacre in Paris, encouraged by Conde himself. The 
Hotel de Ville, in which the general assembly of the city, 
which had replaced the Parlement, was in session, was 
set on fire by the mob, and many of the notables were 
cut down as they endeavored to escape from the flames. 
Provisional Conde then coerced the remnants of the Par- 
govemment. lement to consent to an administration, in 
which Orleans was Lieutenant-General of the kingdom, 
himself Commander-in-chief, Beaufort Governor of the 
town, and Broussel Provost. 

The court had meanwhile to meet a fresh danger. At 
the beginning of July the Archduke Leopold, who had 
Spanish J ust taken Gravelines, and was besieging Dun- 

invasion, kirk, sent a large force with Lorraine's troops 

July 1652. ° 

to the aid of Conde. Turenne retired to 
Compiegne, and determined to defend the line of the 
Oise with his 8,000 men. The enemy numbered 20,000, 
and had the Spanish general listened to the prayer of 
Conde, and, with the Prince's help, attacked the royal 



1652. The Rebellion of Conde. 7 1 

troops, the result could hardly have been in doubt. But 
thus decisively to end a war which was every day 
weakening their great enemy was far from the interests 
of Spain. At the critical moment she recalled her army, 
and the danger thus disappeared as soon almost as it 
had arisen. Lorraine and Conde were easily held in 
check during the whole of September by the superior 
generalship of Turenne. 

3. Reaction in Paris. Royal Entry. 
In other ways the sky was brightening. The massacre 
of the Hotel de Ville had disgusted all reasonable men. 
A great reaction took place in Paris. The Reaction in 
bourgeoisie refused to pay the taxes de- Paris, 
manded by the provisional government. Conde's army 
rapidly dwindled away ; on August 9 he could muster 
only 1,200 men. To separate their friends in the Parle- 
inent from their enemies, the court now The Parle- 
ordered that body to leave Paris and resume 1 " ent ? f 

J rontoise. 

its sittings at Pontoise. Mole, the president, 
and some thirty members obeyed the summons, and their 
numbers increased day by day. The court thus gained 
the advantage of securing the registering of their acts 
according to the constitution. So greatly did Louis 
appreciate their services that to the end of his reign he 
paid all the members who attended the session of August 
7-October 20 a pension of 6,000 livres, under the title 
of Pensions de Pontoise. 

It did not at first appear that this step was for the 
interest of Mazarin. The Parlement of Pontoise de- 
manded his dismissal. This, however, was obviously a 
prudent step, as it removed Conde's last excuse. The 
demand was acceded to with the old readiness, and on 
August 19 Mazarin left the court to reside at Bouillon. 



72 E?iglish Restoration and Louis XIV. 1652. 

Within Paris the party of order continually improved 
its position. So strong was it that on September 24 the 
bourgeoisie and the clergy determined to invite Louis to 
Growth of return. The provost of the merchants, the 
the reaction. principal magistrates, the six trade com- 
panies, with De Retz at the head of the priesthood, 
carried the invitation to St. Germain. Turenne mean- 
while had once more outmanoeuvred the Duke of Lor- 
raine, and compelled him to lead his bands from France. 
Flight of Conde, bitterly disappointed, hastened with 

Conde. the remnants of his army to do the same. 

The fickle resolutions of Orleans were easily overcome. 
Beaufort was induced to give up his governorship for 
100,000 livres, and on October 21, 1652, amid a scene of the 
Return of wildest rejoicing, Louis XIV. at last entered 

the court, his capital. An amnesty was passed for all 

occurrences since February 1651, and all decrees issued 
in the interval, including those against Mazarin, were 
cancelled. Mazarin, however, did not at once return. 
He was busy in putting the army of Champagne into 
such order that Turenne was shortly able to drive Conde 
to La Capelle and to retake all the towns held by the 
prince except Rethel and St. Menehould. He was too 
and of perhaps unwilling again to appear promi- 

Mazarin. nently until he had heard of the exile of his 

rival Chateauneuf, of the complete dispersion of the 
leaders, male and female, of the Fronde, and of the 
arrest of De Retz. He entered Paris on February 3, 
Humiliation I ^53- The earliest opportunity was taken 
°Parhment *° r assertm g tne triumph of the principles of 
Richelieu and Mazarin. On the very day 
after the entry a lit de justice was held, at which the 
Parlenient was once again forbidden to assume any con- 
trol over State affairs, or to meddle with finance. 



1 653. The Rebellio7i of Conde. 73 

Paris was now secure ; but the provinces were still 
agitated. In Provence, Burgundy, and Saintonge, quiet 
was soon restored. The struggle in Guienne however 
was serious and prolonged. Bordeaux was under a 
reign of terror, and the violent section of „ , . . 

• t^ 7 ,-> Submission 

its Parlemetit, known as the Ormee, from of the 
the fact that its meetings were held in a pro 
grove of elm trees, refused all the offers of the Crown. 
Its tyranny however became intolerable to the respect- 
able citizens, and led to a dispersion of Conde's faction. 
On August 3, 1653, Bordeaux, vigorously pressed by the 
royal troops, opened its gates. 

With this submission the long struggle of the Fronde 
came to an end. Its result was to leave the monarchy 
supreme. The conflict between royalty and Conclusion 
the spirit of feudalism had ended in the com- y f r0 nde its 
plete triumph of the cause which best satis- main results, 
fied the yearning for order and the sentiment of national 
unity. The great nobles had failed because as time went 
on it became more clear that they had nothing to offer 
the nation, and that their cause was the cause of civil 
confusion. They now exchanged their fruitless preten- 
sions to independence for the high commands, the titles, 
and the pensions which Mazarin showered among them, 
for all the gilded servitude of the court. The heads of 
great houses who had stood in arms against the King 
henceforth found their chief honour in filling the number- 
less offices which were created in the household, while 
the younger members of the noblesse were encouraged to 
seek a career in the one profession which was not beneath 
the dignity of their order. The Parlements, the only other 
bodies whose pretensions could be dangerous, were sternly 
kept within the original limits of their constitution. But 
while henceforth they were allowed to occupy themselves 



74 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1654. 

with the judicial functions alone, Mazarin was ever care- 
ful that no cause should be given them for discontent by- 
interference with those functions. They became once 
more bodies of magistrates, constituting a legal caste. 
All the machinery of a purely centralised administration 
was rapidly reorganised, and in especial the Intendants, 
the favourite institution of both Richelieu and Mazarin, 
were immediately restored. 

Even now, before she could claim that supremacy in 
Europe to secure which had been throughout all the 
troubles the guiding ambition of Mazarin as it had been 
of Richelieu, France had much to accomplish and many 
dangers to overcome. She had to win back the con- 
quests which Spain, nerveless and inefficient as she had 
become, had been able to wrest from her during the 
years of confusion : Piombino, Porto-Longone, and 
Casale, in Italy ; Dunkirk, Mardyck, Gravelines, Fur- 
nes, and other towns, in Flanders ; Catalonia in Spain. 
And she had first to face the final efforts of Conde. 



CHAPTER VI. 

CLOSE OF THE WAR WITH SPAIN. 

i. Defeat of Conde and Safety of France. 
The Prince had now taken the last step in treason. 
He had formally enlisted in the service of Spain, and 
Conde's \v\\\\ a mixed force gf 30,000 men appeared 

invasion. m p rance i n the spring of 1 654. Turenne 

could only bring 16,000 to oppose him, but the spirit 
Sieges of of his troops was high. Soon the interest of 

Stenai and tne war cen tred around two places, Arras 

June 1654- and Stenai. The latter was besieged by the 
French on June 19, while Arras was at the same moment 



1 6 54- Close of the War with Spain. 75 

attacked by Conde. All Europe stood watching the strife, 
for the first success would probably decide the war. Paris 
was in a ferment of expectation; while circumstances 
known only to Mazarin invested the issue with singular 
importance. Conde was indefatigable, but he was 
feebly seconded by his Spanish colleagues whose punc- 
tilious pride had been annoyed by his arrogance. Within 
Arras a very different spirit reigned. The defences of the 
town were weak and the inhabitants were Spanish ; but 
the governor had no thought of surrender, and the offi- 
cers of the garrison swore to one another to die at their 
posts. Meantime their brethren outside Stenai, encour- 
aged by the presence of Louis, pushed the siege with such 
vigour that on August 5 the town capitulated ; and the 
besiegers at once hurried off to attack Conde before 
Arras. A desperate effort of the Prince to 
carry the place before these forces came up success of 
failed. On the 24th Turenne by a night 
attack forced his lines, and compelling him to retreat 
in confusion, pursued him almost to the walls of Brus- 
sels. 

The northern frontier was now safe. The treason of 
Harcourt, the governor of Alsace and Philippsburg, who 
had taken possession of Breisach, and had Security of 
assumed the position of an independent the frontiers. 
prince, gave Mazarin an opportunity of securing also the 
frontier of the Rhine. Unable at first to bribe the com- 
mander, the Cardinal bribed his men. Harcourt, find- 
ing himself defenceless, listened to the minister's offers 
of 50,000 livres, and Mazarin took the governments of 
Alsace and Philippsburg into his own hands. 

Before the beginning of the next campaign took place 
a scene which marked the distance over which the mon- 
archy had moved since the beginning of Mazarin's career. 



76 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1655, 

On March 20, 1655, a /// de justice was held for imposing 
taxes, rendered necessary by the war. Louis was hunt- 
ing at Vincennes when the news reached him that the 
Parlement was discussing the new acts with the view of 
remonstrating. Suddenly he appeared un- 

Assertion of . . J . . 

the royal announced in the Palais de Justice, in the 

dress in which he had ridden hard from 
Vincennes, and with marks of anger in his face. Inter- 
vening at once in the discussion, he expressed his sur- 
prise at this audacity, curtly forbade the continuation of 
the proceedings, and then left the hall as abruptly as he 
had entered it. The Parlement never again ventured to 
incur a similar rebuke. 

The same lesson was taught in a still higher quarter. 
The Pope refused to declare that a vacancy had been 
caused in the archbishopric of Paris by De Retz's forced 
resignation in prison. A compromise was arranged ; but 
the Pope insisted that the terms of the agreement should 
receive the sanction of the assembly of the clergy and 
of the Parlement. Mazarin unhesitatingly refused the 
condition. In the most emphatic terms he laid down 
the doctrine that the absolute and despotic power in 
France was with the King, and that no organisation 
whatsoever in the kingdom could pretend to the smallest 
share; and it illustrates the national and anti-papal 
character of the Gallican Church that Mazarin was 
strongly supported by the clergy in this position. 

The summer campaign of 1655 was little more than a 
military parade on foreign ground. Everywhere France 
Campaign was now on the offensive. Fortress after 

of 1655. fortress was captured, and in November the 

leaderless army of the Duke of Lorraine, who had been 
arrested by the Spaniards and imprisoned in Madrid, 
was taken into French pay. Fortune had been more 



1 65 5. Close of the War with Spain. Jj 

evenly balanced in Italy and Catalonia, though there too 
the French had more than held their own. 

2. The English Alliance. 
Mazarin was now bent upon an enterprise which, if 
successful, must finish the war. A deadly blow would be 
struck at the strength of Spain if Dunkirk, Mazarin 
Mardyck, and Gravelines — the possession tosecure es 
of which was of vital importance to her com- England. 
munication with Flanders as well as enabling her to ruin 
French commerce on that coast — could be wrested from 
her. For this the co-operation of some maritime power 
was necessary, and Mazarin determined at all costs to 
secure England. With Cromwell, the only diplomatist 
by whose astuteness he confessed himself baffled, he had 
been negotiating since 165 1, but up to this moment with 
no result. In 1654 the Protector found himself courted 
by both the great powers. He told them the terms on 
which his help might be had. In each case they were 
dictated by the two main principles of his policy — the 
desire to make England mistress of the seas, with a 
foothold on the continent, and the desire to protect 
Protestantism. From Spain he must have Calais, when 
taken from the French, freedom of trade with the 
American colonies, and a cessation of all attacks by the 
Inquisition upon English merchants in Spain. The first 
condition met with no favour in Spain, since it would 
place her communication with the Netherlands at the 
mercy of England, To the second and third she returned 
a flat refusal ; to grant them, she said, would be giving up 
the King's two eyes. From France Cromwell demanded 
Dunkirk, when captured from the Spaniards, and promise 
of toleration for the Huguenots ; and Mazarin was ready 
to accede to these terms. Mutual jealousies however 



78 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1657. 

and varying interests hindered an understanding, and 
the massacre of the Protestant Waldenses in Piedmont 
by the Duke of Savoy would have caused the negotiations 
to be broken off had not Mazarin yielded to Cromwell's 
demand and compelled the Duke to grant the survivors 
favourable terms. 

At length on November 3, 1655, a treaty was signed 
at Westminster, based upon freedom of commerce 
Treaty of an( ^ an engagement that neither country 

West- should assist the enemies or rebels of the 

minster, 

Novembers, other; Mazarin consented to expel Charles 
II., James, and twenty named royalists from 
France. Cromwell similarly agreed to dismiss from Eng- 
land the emissaries of Conde. 

But Mazarin was soon anxious for a more effectual 
bond. The French army had sustained a grievous dis- 
Victory of aster by a victory of Conde at Valenciennes, 

Conde at 



Val 



L'll- 



which threatened the loss of all the advan- 
t'uTT' tages of the campaign. The financial em- 

1656. barrassments too were very great. The 

army was unpaid, and peasant risings were taking place 
in various parts of the kingdom. 

Cromwell had equally good reasons for drawing closer 
to France, for Spain was preparing actively to assist 
Charles II. French and English interests thus coinciding, 
Treaty of an alliance was signed at Paris on March 23, 

March 2-, 1657. Gravelines and Dunkirk were to be 

l6 57- at once besieged both by land and sea. Eng- 

land was to send 6,000 men to assist the French army. 
Gravelines was to become French and Dunkirk English ; 
should the former fall first it was to be held by England 
until Dunkirk too was taken. Mazarin disarmed the 
hostility felt by the French clergy to such an alliance 
with heretics by a clause preserving the Catholic religion 



i657- Close of the War with Spai7i. 79 

in any towns taken by the English. The danger that 
England might gain too strong a hold on the continent 
was guarded against by her promise to attack no other 
towns in Flanders. 

The alliance was not a moment too soon. The cam- 
paign of 1657 had opened disastrously. The tide was 
however turned by the arrival of the English contingent. 
Montmedy was immediately besieged, and capitulated on 
August 4. The effect was again to make Mazarin hang 
back from further effort, since it seemed possible now to 
make peace with Spain, and thereby avoid an English 
occupation of Dunkirk. But Cromwell would stand no 
trifling, and his threats were so clear that Capture of 
Mazarin determined to act loyally and with- Octobers', 
out delay. On September 30 Turenne laid l65 ?- 
siege to Mardyck, which protected Dunkirk, and took it 
in four days. It was at once handed over to the Eng- 
lish. 

Mazarin had meanwhile gained an important diplo- 
matic success. The Emperor Ferdinand III. had died 
on April 1, 1657. Mazarin knew that in breach of the 
Treaty of Westphalia he had been constantly sending 
help to Spain, and that Leopold, his son, was now 
doing the same. He determined to seize the oppor- 
tunity of depriving his enemy of so important a source 
of support. For the next eighteen months he ex- 
hausted all the resources of diplomacy to oppose Leo- 
pold's succession to the imperial title, putting forward 
first Louis XIV., and then the Elector of Bavaria, as 
rival claimants. 

To secure his election Leopold found himself com- 
pelled by the electors whom Mazarin had won by whole- 
sale bribery to sign a 'capitulation,' by which he bound 
himself to observe with scrupulousness the terms of the 



80 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1658. 

Peace of Westphalia. And on August 14 Mazarin 

managed further to form the Rhine League, by which six 

Formation °f tne electors, with tne King of Sweden, 

" f , the joined with France in an engagement to corn- 

Rhine J r . 

League, pel Leopold during three years faithfully to 

5 ' observe his word. The expense incurred by 

France was ruinous ; but the need of neutralising Leo- 
pold's sympathies with Spain was immediate, and the 
value of the influence gained in German affairs was of 
vital importance to Mazarin's future plans. 

Meanwhile the great blow had been struck in the north. 
At the demand of Cromwell a fresh agreement had been 
Sie^eof made in the spring of 1658 by which the 

Dunkirk. siege of Dunkirk had without further delay 

been begun. Under Turenne's command, and encouraged 
by the presence of Louis, the combined English and 
French forces worked with desperate energy against the 
almost insuperable difficulties of the position, aggravated 
as they were by bad weather, want of provisions and 
munitions of war, and irruptions of the ocean. On June 
10 Turenne learned that Don John of Austria and 
Conde, accompanied by the Dukes of York and Glouce- 
ster at the head of some English royalist regiments, 
had arrived at Furnes, intending to force his lines. 
Leaving sufficient men to continue the siege he at once 
marched to meet them. So confident were the Spanish 
commanders in their numbers, and so inefficient was Don 
John himself, that all proper precautions were neglected. 
Conde, knowing to whom he was opposed, foresaw the 
coming disaster. Turning to the young Duke of Glouce- 
ster, he asked him if he had ever seen a battle. The 
Duke replied that he had not. 'Then,' said Conde, 'in 
half an hour you shall see how one can be lost.' 

He was not deceived. The picked Spanish infantry, 



1658. Close of the War with Spain. 81 

supported by the English and Irish auxiliaries under 
James, held the dunes or low sandhills on Battle of 
the right. Straight up against them, sinking f^^ 5 ' 
deep in the sand at each step, went the l6 58. 
Ironsides with an impetuous valour which was the 
wonder of all who saw. Conde on the left met Tu- 
renne's onslaught with such desperate energy that he 
twice repulsed him, and nearly broke through his lines. 
But in the end the discipline of the Ironsides and the 
skill of Turenne won a crushing victory. 

Dunkirk immediately surrendered, and on the 25th 
was in Cromwell's possession. Two months later Grave- 
lines also fell. A short and brilliant cam- Surrender 
paign followed, in which Don John and j ul 2 l ^and 
Conde, shut up in Brussels and Tournai ofGrave- 

r lines, August 

respectively, were compelled to remain in- 29,1658. 
active while fortress after fortress fell into French hands. 
A few days after the fall of Gravelines Cromwell died ; 
but Mazarin was now near his goal. Utterly defeated on 
her own soil, beaten too by the Portuguese at Elvas, and 
threatened in Milan, her army ruined, her treasury bank- 
rupt, without a single ally in Europe, Spain stood at last 
powerless before him. The rest he felt was but the work 
of diplomatic skill, and in diplomatic skill, now that 
Cromwell was dead, he had no master. To Death of 
him the prospects of peace were at least as September 
welcome as to Spain ; for France, so terrible 3. 1658. 
was her exhaustion after thirty years of ceaseless foreign 
and civil war, maintained only by taxation of crushing 
severity, was from every corner of her devastated depart- 
ments literally crying aloud for repose. 



82 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1659. 

3. Peace of the Pyrenees. 

The treaty between France and Spain dealt in the 
first place with accomplished facts. By a preliminary 
Preliminary arrangement in February 1659, all the con- 
agreement, quests made by France previous to the 
English alliance were to remain hers for ever ; but the 
places captured by Turenne in the last campaign (except 
Mardyck which was held by France, and Dunkirk which 
was retained by England), with Valence and Mortara 
in Italy, and several towns in Catalonia, were to be 
restored to Spain. Artois (with the exception of Aire and 
St. Omer), Roussillon, and Alsace, became French soil ; 
while by the cession of many fortresses in Luxemburg, 
Hainault, and Flanders, her foot was planted firmly in 
the Low Countries. 

Bound in honour and gratitude to do what they could 
for Conde, the Spanish ministers urged his restoration, 
not only to all his possessions, but to his governments 
and dignities as well. The demand was at this stage 
formally and decisively refused by Mazarin. 

But it was the future rather than the present which as 
usual most occupied Mazarin's thoughts. Just as in the 
The Spanish Peace of Westphalia he had been looking to 
marriage. tne f u t ure weakening of the power of Austria 

when he helped to secure the independence of the sepa- 
rate German States, so now he was looking to the future 
absorption of the Spanish monarchy into that of France, 
when treating for what had long been looked to as a fore- 
most condition of peace between the two kingdoms, the 
marriage of Louis with the Infanta. 

The grounds of his expectation lay in the peculiarity 
of the Spanish law of succession, a peculiarity which 
dated from the eleventh century. Not only did the crown 
descend to the daughter where no male heirs in direct 



1659. 



Close of tlu War with Spain. 



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84 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1659. 

descent were living, but, contrary to the custom of Europe, 
it was by her carried to her husband. It was this law 
„ by which in 12 17 Castille and Leon, and in 

Spanish law * 

of inherit- 1479 Castille and Arragon, were united; 

and which by the marriage of Jeanne la 
Folle, the heiress of the Spanish monarchy, to Philippe 
le Belle, the heir to the Austrian dominions and the Low 
Countries, made their son Charles V. the sovereign of 
nearly half the known world. 

But in 161 2, when the marriage of Louis XIII. and 
Anne of Austria opened up the possibility of a combina- 
tion still more threatening, the union namely of the 
French and Spanish crowns, the general alarm of Eu- 
rope and the national jealousy in Spain brought about 
a breach of this law. The contract of marriage then 
drawn up contained an entire renunciation by Anne of 

all pretensions to the Spanish throne for her- 

Kenuncia- * 

tion of Anne self and for her descendants, and this renun- 
and Louis ciation was after the marriage reaffirmed 

X1IL both by herself and Louis XIII. A similar 

renunciation was now insisted upon on the part of Marie- 
Therese and Louis XIV. 

Mazarin exhausted all his art to evade the Spanish 
demand. The prospect of this succession had been fore- 
Renunda- most in his mind ever since 1646, when he 

V, on - of ^i - was hoping- to come to terms with Spain 

Mana-lhe- r & r 

rese and before the Peace of Westphalia. And now 

although there seemed no present likelihood 
of the renunciation being referred to, since in 1658 and 
1659 two sons were born to Philip IV., and the claims of 
the Infanta would be dormant during their lives, yet, 
these sons being both delicate (one died in 1660 and the 
other in 1661), his anxiety to avoid the renunciation was 
as great as though no such obstacle existed. 



1 659. Close of the War with Spam. 85 

Failing in this, Mazarin as usual gained his ends by- 
indirect means. He demanded a dowry of 500,000 
crowns with the Infanta, of which one-third was to be 
paid on the day before the marriage, and he refused to 
proceed with the treaty until this demand was agreed to. 
He then instructed his secretary Lionne, to whom was 
entrusted along with Don Pedro Coloma the task of 
drawing up the contract, to procure the inser- insertion of 
tion of a clause setting forth that the validity uSn^ to" 
of the renunciation should be dependent dowry 
upon the punctual payments of these sums. After much 
diplomatic fencing, the skill of Lionne overcame the 
reluctance of Coloma, and this condition, which contains 
the key to the French policy of the next four years, was 
duly included in the contract. Whether from inability to 
raise the money, or more probably because, Coloma hav- 
ing died in the interval, the condition was overlooked by 
the Spanish ministers, the first sum had not „,, 

1 . The renun- 

been paid when the marriage took place, and ciation 
the renunciation was therefore invalid. On 
the next day Mazarin and Lionne were able to congratu- 
late one another upon having thus completely outwitted 
Spain. 

The question of Portugal had next to be settled. 
That kingdom had in 1640 recovered its independence, 
and the Duke of Braganza, under the title of John IV., 
had since worn the crown. He had from that time been 
a thorn in the side of Spain, and had been actively 
assisted by France. So anxious was Mazarin not to lose 
this source of support in the future, that he actually offered 
to restore to Spain all the French conquests Mazarin 
in the Low Countries if the independence fegardTng 
of Portugal might be recognised in the treaty. Portugal. 
But Spain had set her mind upon reducing this rebellious 



86 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1659. 

province. All that Mazarin could obtain for her was 
a truce of three months, while on the part of the King 
of France it was promised that he would never, directly 
or indirectly, give to her any aid whatsoever, public or 
secret. It will however be seen that when a convenient 
time came, this promise was easily evaded. 

On one other point Mazarin found himself compelled 
to give way. Conde's future again occupied a large part 
Restitution of the conferences which he held with Don 

of Conde, Luis de Haro at the j sle of p heasants in the 

Bidassoa river. De Haro threw over the preliminary 
treaty in this respect, and demanded in the most pressing 
manner that Conde should be fully restored. Mazarin 
at length yielded. The Prince was reinstated in his 
possessions, honours, and dignities, receiving the govern- 
ment of Burgundy, with possession only of Dijon and 
St. Jean de Losne, instead of Guienne, and the dignity of 
Grand Master of the Household for his son. But Mazarin 
gained an ample equivalent. Avesnes, one of the most 
valuable towns in Hainault, with Philippeville and Marien- 
burg, as well as the territory of Conflans under the Pyre- 
nees, were ceded to France, while the Duchy of Juliers 
was restored to her ally the Duke of Neuburg. Moreover, 
as Mazarin said, Conde now gained no more than he cer- 
tainly would have received after giving in his submission 
to the King. 

Finally, the Duke of Lorraine was provided for. He 
was re-established in his duchy, with the exception of 
Duke of Moyenvic and the districts of Bar and Cler- 

Lorrame. mont, Stenai, Dun, and Jarmetz, which be- 

came French. He was compelled to promise that he 
would join no league against France, and would allow her 
armies to pass freely through his territory. 

The importance with which this settlement was in- 



1 659. Close of the War with Spain. 87 

vested throughout Europe was seen in the presence at 
the place of conference of deputies from Sweden, Austria, 
Germany, the Commonwealth of England, and the exiled 
Charles II. Sweden and the Rhine League were clamor- 
ous for the aid of France against the Emperor, who 
again, in defiance of the treaty of Westphalia, had invaded 
Pomerania. The affairs of England, too, received much 
attention. 

Both Spain and France were well disposed towards 
Charles. But it was important for France to have the 
good-will of England in view of a possible Arrange- 
renewal of the war ; and England at present ™ g ardine 
meant the Commonwealth. Mazarin there- England. 
fore declined Charles's offers (including his proposal to 
marry the Cardinal's niece Hortense Mancini, and, when 
restored, to hand over the government of Ireland), and 
refused to help in his restoration ; further, he satisfied 
Lockhart, the English ambassador, by agreeing that 
Charles should not be allowed to employ the forces which 
Conde would leave when taken back into favour. With 
respect to the war which continued between Spain and 
England, it was agreed that France should preserve a 
complete neutrality. 

Such were the principal provisions of the Peace of the 
Pyrenees, which gave a short period of repose to southern 
Europe. For Spain it was what the Peace of West- 
phalia had been for Austria, a confession of weakness 
and mark of decline. For France it was, as that Peace 
had also been, a fresh step towards European supremacy. 
But France, though she had gained much, though her 
boundaries were now the Rhine and the crest of the 
Pyrenees, though she had prepared for the future by the 
formation of the Rhine League and the Spanish mar- 
riage, and though she had established a foothold among 



88 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1660. 

the fortresses of the north-east, had, unhappily both for 
herself and Europe, been unable to force from Spain that 
Incomplete complete rampart for Paris, the determina- 
the fi de5res° f tion to secure wnicn had been the main 
of Mazarin. reason for the earnestness with which 
throughout all the difficulties of the last fifteen years she 
had bent herself to the war. And so it was that what 
might have been a lasting peace was indeed only a 
truce. The attempt to make good this unfulfilled desire 
forms the subject-matter, so to speak, of the intrigue and 
the fighting of the next eighteen years. 



CHAPTER VII. 

RESTORATION OF MONARCHY IN ENGLAND. 

i. Conditions of the Restoration. 
Louis XIV., after the fever fit of the Fronde, had en- 
tered upon his sovereignty by the right of conquest, un- 
Charles II. shackled by any constitutional authority, 
without an d unbound by any conditions. In Eng- 

wnt , ten land, too, monarchy was within a vear 

conditions, ' J J 

and yet after the Peace of the Pyrenees, re-estab- 

sTfferance. lished amid all the signs of popular rejoic- 
ing, and with greetings as apparently servile as those 
offered to Louis himself. And yet Charles was bound 
hand and foot by conditions the failure to fulfil which 
would in all probability have relegated him once more 
to a wandering life among the courts of Europe. 

That this was so arose from the all-important fact that, 
speaking roughly, he was restored by those who had 
overthrown his father and who were responsible for his 
own exile. The fleet, the army, the fortresses, were in 



i66o. Restoration of Monarchy in Eng/and. 89 

their hands. England had, it is true, shaken off at 
length the military despotism by which Cromwell had cut 
right athwart the most cherished traditions of English 
life. Like an unstrung bow, she had fallen back upon 
her old ways of life. She had restored her Parliament, 
and then, Parliament and monarchy being co-ordinated 
in the English mind, she had restored her King. ' This 
government was as natural to them as their food or 
raiment, and naked Indians dressing themselves in 
French fashion were no more absurd than Englishmen 
without a Parliament and a King.' 

But having thrown off, first the despotism of Charles I., 
and then the despotism of military force, the country had 
no thought of taking another. The new reign must take 
account of the feelings which had grown up during the 
overthrow and abeyance of monarchy. That Charles 
fully recognised the position was seen in his own words 
some months later to the House of Lords, when he 
spoke of ' those who brought or permitted us to come 
here.' The people might, it was hoped, in their impa- 
tience be deceived by the professions made ; but made 
they must be. The Declaration of Breda The 
was admirably suited to the object in view. Declaration 
By the most careful expression of deference 
to the authority of the Parliament Charles trusted to lull 
suspicion until he was steady enough upon the throne to 
use his constitutional power of dissolution at a favourable 
moment, and thus to secure a parliament more to his 
wishes. 

The foremost question in men's minds was, how far 
the spirit of retaliation was likely to go. Had the Restora- 
tion, instead of being the re-establishment of . , 

° Indemnity. 

Parliamentary government, been the work of 

a victorious Royalist movement, the passions roused would 



90 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1660. 

have been quenched, the accumulated injuries of years 
avenged in torrents of blood. But the Declaration 
granted a general pardon to all who within forty days 
after its publication should by any open act return to 
loyalty and obedience, excepting only suchperso7is as shall 
hereafter be excepted by Parliametit. The King's word 
was indeed solemnly passed for an absolute oblivion of 
all acts committed against him or his father. In the 
letter to the Speaker accompanying the Declaration, how- 
ever, a significant hint was given, ' If there be a crying 
sin for which the nation may be involved in the infamy 
that attends it, we cannot doubt that you will be as solicit- 
ous to redeem and vindicate the nation from that guilt and 
infamy as we can be.' 

The question of the Church was treated under the same 

conditions. The Presbyterian was looking forwards with 

, n eager anxiety, the Anglican Churchman with 

The Church. _ . . 

exultant hope. To quiet the one, but in terms 
which might afterwards leave the field clear to the other, 
Charles proclaimed on his own account a complete ' lib- 
erty to tender consciences,' declaring himself ready 'to 
consent to such an Act of Parliament as, upon mature de- 
liberation, shall be offered to us for the full granting that 
indulgence.' 

The re-settlement of the land was next dealt with. 
During the wars many estates had changed hands. The 
Crown lands and those of Church dignitaries 
had been confiscated by the Commonwealth 
and sold. About them nothing was said in the Dec- 
laration. As to private estates, either granted away by 
the Commonwealth or sold by distressed Royalists, the 
decision was left absolutely in the hands of Parliament. 

In another matter the Declaration expressed how 
completely the Restoration was one of sufferance. It 



1660. Restoratio7i of Monarchy in England. 91 

concluded with a promise to consent to any Act of Par- 
liament ' for the full satisfaction of all arrears due to the 
officers and soldiers of the army under the 

The army. 

command of General Monk, and to receive 
them into the royal service ' upon as good pay and con- 
ditions as they now enjoy.' 

The recognition of the absolute authority of Par- 
liament in questions regarding the Church and the land, 
the complete waiving of a desire for personal vengeance, 
the satisfaction of Monk's army, these were the condi- 
tions under which Charles was allowed to return to Eng- 
land. 

The composition of the executive government expressed 
the nature of the compromise. The Privy Council was 
really nominated by Monk, and was composed in a great 
degree of leading Presbyterians. Out of this however was 
formed a small committee, which practically The 
had the whole control of affairs. Edward ministry. 
Hyde, now Earl of Clarendon, was Lord Chancellor, and 
was so supreme that the years from 1660 to 1667 are fitly 
named the ' Clarendon administration.' With him was 
Ormond, who projected into this reign the high-toned vir- 
tues of the old Cavalier stock; Southampton the Lord 
Treasurer, and Nicholas the Secretary ; these four repre- 
senting the principle of legitimacy in its purest form. On 
the other hand Monk and his confidant Morrice were in- 
cluded, while Lord Robartes, who had fought against the 
king, was made Viceroy of Ireland. Scotland was placed 
under Middleton, a rude soldier of fortune who had served 
on both sides. 

2. Partial Fulfilment of the Declaration of Breda. 

The Indemnity Bill was taken up at once. Charles 

and Clarendon were determined that in this respect the 



92 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1660. 

Declaration should be carried out as loyally as the pre- 
vailing temper might allow ; and they managed at least 
Partial to confine the spirit of retaliation within intel- 

indemnity. ligible lines. A broad distinction was drawn 
between the regicides, those namely who had committed 
the ' crying sin,' and all others. About the former the 
majority of the House of Commons had little hesitation ; 
the true Presbyterian abhorred the crime of the king's 
death as much as the Royalist. They began on June 5 
by excepting from the benefits of the Act five of the 
judges ' for life and estate ' ; on the 8th three more were 
added ; and the next day twenty more, ' for pains and 
penalties not extending to life.' It was not until July 11, 
and then only in consequence of an urgent message from 
Charles, that with some further additions the bill passed 
the Lower House. In the Lords a far more savage spirit 
reigned. The Earl of Bristol was the spokesman of the 
majority, when he complained that the bill was miserably 
inadequate, though he thought that delay was even a 
worse evil than an incomplete revenge. On July 20 the 
Lords resolved that all who had signed the warrant 
should die ; and three days later they included ' all who 
were concerned ' in the murder. Once more Charles in- 
tervened. But for his promise, he told the Lords 
plainly, neither he nor they would have been there ; his 
own honour and the public security alike demanded an 
indemnity for all except those immediately guilty of his 
father's death. With amendments which the Commons 
would not accept the bill passed the Lords on August 10. 
Feeling in I n tne conferences between the Houses the 

the Lords. feeling of the Lords was expressed in a de- 
mand for the death of four members of Cromwell's 
High Court of Justice in revenge for the death of four of 
their own number condemned by that court, the victims 



1660. Restoration of Monarchy in England. 93 

to be chosen by the relatives of the slain peers. The 
Commons however refused to entertain the proposal, 
'hoping,' in full accord with Charles and Clarendon, 
' that their Lordships would not have the sacrifice of the 
King's blood to be mingled with any other blood.' At 
length, on August 29, the bill passed. Besides the ex- 
ceptions already mentioned, Hacker and Axtell, who 
were not among the King's judges, were excepted for 
life ; while in the case of Vane and Lambert, though 
they, as men of mischievous power and activity, were 
excepted, it was understood that a pardon should be 
granted them ; and it was further determined that those 
who had given themselves up should be tried, but, if 
convicted, should not be executed without a special Act 
of Parliament. 

The trial which followed is famous because Orlando 
Bridgeman, interpreting the events of the last thirty 
years, then established the present view of monarchical 
immunity and mini-sterial responsibility. The Tl . ia j of the 
king's person, he laid down, is inviolable ; he regicides, 
is directly subject to God alone ; and no authority what- 
soever can exercise coercive power over him. The full 
responsibility of ministers was affirmed with equal em- 
phasis. 

With the exceptions mentioned every act against the 
State committed between June 1, 1637, and June 24, 1660, 
was forgotten. At the price of some twenty lives the 
universal fear was removed. It should not be forgotten 
that it was principally owing to Charles and Clarendon 
that, after a civil war which had its roots in the deepest 
feelings which can stir men's minds, after a despotism 
which, triumphant as it placed England among European 
nations, had roused the bitterest resentment, the restora- 
tion of the old order was accomplished with bloodshed 



94 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1660. 

which, when compared with the provocations which 
seemed to call for vengeance, was well-nigh insignifi- 
cant. 

Life was now safe ; it remained to give the same 
security to property. With regard to the Crown lands, 
Settlement those of the Church dignitaries, and in a few 
of the land. cases those of private owners who had been 
forcibly dispossessed, no action was taken either by the 
court or the Parliament until the dissolution ; they then 
in the natural course of law, since their confiscation had 
been illegal, reverted to their original owners. The ques- 
tion of private estates however was a different one. 
Those Royalists who had voluntarily sold their lands 
looked eagerly forward to regaining them. But here, to 
their indignant disappointment, Clarendon stood firm in 
his assertion of the sanctity of private contract, and the 
Bill of Sales decreed the confirmation of all transfers 
made with the owners' consent. Probably to no act of 
his administration did Clarendon owe more odium, as for 
none did he deserve more credit, than to his integrity in 
this affair. 

Another matter of the first importance for the stability 
of the restored government was then taken in hand. Both 
„ , , Charles and the Commons were eager for the 

Disbanding _ , ° 

of the disbanding of the army. To the King, prin- 

cipally composed as it was of the soldiers who 
had served Cromwell, and whose acquiescence in Charles's 
return was largely mixed with sullen jealousy, it formed 
a standing menace ; in the presence of such a force the 
monarchy could not breathe freely. But Charles had 
another reason, little guessed at the time. It is now 
known that he had formed the deliberate intention of 
dissolving Parliament as soon as the troops were dis- 
banded, wresting all the power from the Presbyterians, 



1660. Restoration of Monarchy in England. 95 

and with the help of foreign money raising an army for 
himself, independent of any other authority. His people 
were as eager for the disbanding as he was. The cost 
of maintenance alone, 70,000/. a month, was no light 
burden. But of all the feelings roused by Cromwell's 
rule, hatred of his military despotism was the deepest ; it 
finds eloquent expression throughout the reign, and has 
entered the statute book in the Mutiny and Riot Acts. 
In the debate on August 30 William Morrice aptly ex- 
pressed the general feeling when he said that as long 
as the soldiery continued there would be a perpetual 
trembling in the nation ; they were inconsistent with the 
happiness of any kingdom. The keeping of the army on 
foot was like a sheep's skin and a wolf's skin, ' which, if 
they lie together, the former loses its wool.' ' The na- 
tion,' he said, ' can not appear like itself whilst the sword 
is over them.' Monk willingly co-operated in the step 
though it at once robbed him of his extraordinary posi- 
tion. His utmost wishes were satisfied. The rude soldier 
of fortune had fallen upon times which gave ample scope 
for his peculiar genius. He had played the game with 
incomparable dexterity, and had won the stakes. He 
had been made Gentleman of the Bedchamber, Knight 
of the Garter, Master of the Horse, Commander-in-chief, 
and Duke of Albemarle, with a pension of 7,000/. a year ; 
and he had nothing more to desire. 

In England fourteen regiments of horse and eighteen 
of foot, in Scotland one of horse and four of foot, were 
disbanded. Charles however took advantage of the 
sudden rising of a few fanatics in the streets of London 
to retain the Coldstream Guards and a regiment of 
horse, with one of the regiments which formed the gar- 
rison of Dunkirk, in all about 5,000 men. 

One instance of the growth of modern constitutional 



96 EnglisJi Restoration and Louis XIV. 1660. 

ideas was the doctrine of ministerial responsibility laid 
down by Bridgeman. Another was the adoption of the 
principle that the whole nation should pay to get rid of an 
abuse, even when a single class is benefited by its aboli- 
tion. In settling the royal revenue the feudal 

Abolition of ... , . . , 

feudal tenures, which pressed solely upon the 

tenures. landed interest, with the Court of Wards were 

swept away, and the money was raised instead from the 
excise which, having been raised originally by the Long 
Parliament to defray the expenses of the war against 
the King, was now perpetuated. It is no wonder that 
vehement debates took place upon the proposal, and 
that while political economists like Ashley Cooper and 
Maynard were supporters of the change, it was opposed 
both by crotcheteers like Prynne, and by statesmen like 
Annesley. 

There remained but one question, but that a question 
of supreme importance — the settlement of Church govern- 
ment. The Restoration had been the joint work of Epis- 
copalian and Presbyterian ; would it be possible to recon- 
cile them on this question too ? The Presbyterian indeed 
was willing enough for a compromise, for he had an un- 
easy feeling that the ground was slipping from beneath 
his feet. Of Charles's intentions he was still in doubt; 
but he knew that Clarendon was the sworn friend of the 
Church. The Churchman on the other hand was eagerly 
expecting the approaching hour of triumph. It soon ap- 
peared that as King and Parliament, so King and 
Church were inseparable in the English mind; that 
indeed the return of the King was the restoration of the 
Church even more than it was the restoration of Parlia- 
ment. 

In the face of the present Presbyterian majority how- 
ever it was necessary to temporise. The former incum- 



1660. Restoration of Monarchy in England. 97 

bents of Church livings were restored, and the Commons 
took the Communion according to the rites m „ , 

The Presby- 

of the Church ; but in other respects the terians kept 
Presbyterians were carefully kept in play ; 
Charles taking his part in the elaborate farce by appoint- 
ing ten of their leading ministers royal chaplains, and 
even attending their sermons. 

The state of things was faithfully reflected in Parlia- 
ment. As early as July 9 words had been used which 
concisely expressed the determination of the Church. 
' There was,' said Heneage Finch, the Solicitor-Gen- 
eral, ' no question as to her religion ; and, for the rest, 
he knew of no law for altering the government of the 
Church by Bishops.' In any case, he hoped, 'they would 
not cant after Cromwell.' It was not to be expected that 
a Presbyterian majority should tamely fall in with this 
ignoring of past years. After prolonged debate, and 
amid a scene of unusual disorder, the question was 
shelved by a resolution desiring Charles to select a 
number of divines to debate the whole matter. He will- 
ingly undertook the task, but was soon undeceived re- 
garding the likelihood of a compromise. A barren dis- 
cussion was begun in writing between the Anglican and 
Presbyterian divines. ' We agree with you in the main,' 
said the Presbyterians, ' but we wish certain minor mat- 
ters altered.' ' If you agree with us in essentials,' the 
Anglicans replied, 'it is mere " scruple-mongering " to 
dispute about trifles.' 

Charles now took the matter more completely into his 
own hands by issuing a Declaration. Refusing on the 
ground of constraint, to admit the validity Royal 
of the oaths imposed upon him in Scotland, Sf^SStoS- 
by which he was bound to uphold the Cove- tical affairs. 
nant, and not concealing his preference for the Anglican 

H 



98 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1660. 

Church as 'the best fence God hath yet raised against 
popery in the world,' he asserted that nevertheless, to 
his own knowledge, the Presbyterians were not enemies 
to Episcopacy or a set liturgy, and were opposed to the 
alienation of Church revenues. The Declaration then 
went on to limit the power of bishops and archdeacons 
in a degree sufficient to satisfy many of the leading 
Presbyterians, one of whom, Reynolds, accepted a 
bishopric. Charles then proposed to choose an equal 
number of learned divines of both persuasions to discuss 
alterations in the liturgy ; meanwhile no one was to be 
troubled regarding differences of practice. 

The majority in the Commons at first welcomed the 
Declaration. The scheme was indeed wide enough to 
take in all but an insignificant fraction of the Presbyte- 
rians, and a bill was accordingly introduced by Sir Mat- 
thew Hale to turn the Declaration into a law. But 
_ ., , Clarendon at any rate had no intention of 

Failure of J 

attempt to thus baulking the Church of her revenge. 
Declaration Anticipating Hale's action he had in the in- 
mto a law. terval been busy in securing a majority 
against any compromise. The Declaration had done its 
work in gaining time, and when the bill was brought in 
it was rejected by 183 to 157 votes. Parliament was at 
once (December 24) dissolved. The way was now open 
for the riot of the Anglican triumph. Even before the 
new House met the mask was thrown off by the issuing 
Dissolution of an order to the justices to restore the full 
Convention liturgy. The conference indeed took place 
Parliament. i n the Savoy Palace. It failed, like the 
Hampton Court Conference of James I., because it was 
Savoy Con- intended to fail. Upon the two important 
ference. points, the authority of bishops and the 

liturgy, the Anglicans would not give way an inch. 



1 66 1. Triumph of Anglican Church. 99 

Both parties informed the King that, anxious as they 
were for agreement, they saw no chance of it. This 
last attempt at union having fallen through, the Govern- 
ment had their hands free; and their intentions were 
speedily made plain. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



TRIUMPH OF ANGLICAN CHURCH. RELATIONS WITH 
THE CONTINENT. 

i. Persecution of Dissent. 
The extent of the reaction which had followed far more 
than it caused the Restoration, was disclosed when the 
new Parliament met on May 8, 1661. Its 

J Composition 

composition was ominous to the Presbyte- of the new 

. _, ,. ill Parliament. 

nans. A Parliamentary movement had be- 
come a Royalist revel. There now appeared, in a House 
of more than 500 members, but fifty-six of the old ma- 
jority. The great mass of the members were prepared 
to go all lengths in favour of the Church, and Clarendon 
in his opening speech looked forward with confidence to 
their providing that ' neither King, laws, nor Parliament 
may be so used again.' 

For a time the existence of an assembly actuated by 
such a spirit was a source of the greatest danger. The 
decrees of the Convention Parliament were in the eye of 
the law illegal until confirmed by a constitu- Confirma- 
tionally appointed body. Among them was BHiof the 
the Indemnity Bill, and there now appeared Indemnity. 
a serious prospect of some tampering with this, the pri- 
mary condition of the Restoration settlement. Fortu- 
nately Charles was firm to this part at least of his en- 
gagements. His earliest message to the House — and 
L. of C. 



ioo English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1661. 

the need of such a message marks the danger — was a 
distinct refusal to pass any bill whatsoever until this Act 
should be put beyond dispute. 

The Commons then applied themselves to repairing 
the breaches of the constitution. Having imposed the 
Reconstruc- taking of the Sacrament according to the 
tion - prescribed liturgy on all their members, they 

first ordered the ' Solemn League and Covenant ' to be 
burnt by the hangman. They then restored the bishops 
to their seats in the House of Lords, a step to which 
Charles was personally opposed as tending to raise a 
serious obstacle to the accomplishment of his desire for 
toleration of the Catholics. An Act was next passed 
strengthening the law of high treason, and rendering in- 
capable of public employment any one who should affirm 
the King to be a heretic or a papist ; the Long Parliament 
was declared to be dissolved, and the assertion that there 
could be any legislative authority in either or both Houses 
without the King was rendered a penal offence. Parlia- 
ment then, in the full tide of loyalty, declaring it to be 
Control of their duty to ' undeceive the people who have 

1 Wen'to'the been poisoned with an opinion that the militia 
king- of the nation was in themselves or in their 

representatives in Parliament,' handed back to the King 
the entire control of the sea and land forces. With 1641 
in their minds, they passed a bill to limit the right of 
petitioning, and declared that no war, offensive or defen- 
sive, could be lawfully levied against the King, to whom 
also the power of veto was restored. At one point how- 
ever they stopped short. There was not the slightest 
intention of making the Crown independent. The Con- 
vention Parliament had already given Charles a life 
revenue of 1,200,000/. It was well known that this was 
insufficient, but there was no proposal to increase it. 



1662. Triumph of A?iglican Church. 101 

On November 20, 1661, the Houses reassembled in a 
state of great excitement. Rumours had been spread of 
Presbyterian plots in various parts of the country ; and 
even without this incentive the majority were eager for 
a drastic expression of Anglican supremacy. The chief 
scats of Presbyterian feeling were the corporations of 
towns, and it was these bodies which in corporation 
many cases returned members to Parlia- December 
ment. By the Corporation Act (December IQ > 1661. 
19, 1 661) this source of Presbyterian influence was swept 
away at a blow, and a cogent argument offered to weak- 
kneed Presbyterians to reconcile themselves with the 
dominant Church. Three conditions were declared 
essential for admission into any municipality ; the re- 
nunciation of the Solemn League and Covenant; the 
acceptance of an oath denying the lawfulness of taking 
arms against the King, and especially of ' that traitorous 
position of taking arms by his authority against his person 
or against those commissioned by him ;' and finally the 
taking the Sacrament according to the English Church. 
The bill passed in the Commons without difficulty ; in 
the Lords however it met with considerable opposition at 
the hands of Ashley Cooper, now Lord Ashley, and other 
noblemen of the old Presbyterian party, helped in this 
instance by the Lord Treasurer, Southampton. 

The determination of the Commons was increased by 
the knowledge that Charles himself, in spite of his con- 
currence in this Act, was opposed to strin- 
gency towards the Dissenters. His financial the 5 King; his 
necessities gave them the complete control ^f ^UegiLnce 
of the situation, and they now used their *? the , 
power to wring from him a personal decla- 
ration of allegiance to the Church. On March 1, 1662, 
he addressed the House, complained of the unworthy 



102 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1662. 

suspicions against him, declared himself as zealous for 
the Church and as much ' in love with the Book of 
Common Prayer' as could be wished, and expressed 
his desire that the House should pass an Act of 
Uniformity at once. He was supplied with money, 
and was then called upon to fulfil his part of the 
bargain. 

The Corporation Act had practically destroyed Pres- 
byterianism in the State. The Act of Uniformity now 
Act of destroyed it in the Church. It first declared 

Uniformity, that no one might hold a living in the Church 
1662. ' unless he had, before St. Bartholomew's Day, 

August 24, 1662, publicly read the service from the new 
Prayer Book, which had been undergoing revision by 
Convocation in the sense most objectionable to the Pres- 
byterians, and had declared his ' unfeigned assent and 
consent ' to everything contained therein. To express 
in the strongest manner the exclusiveness of the Church, 
and to stamp her with that national and political character 
which she has ever since held, all connection with the Pro- 
testant churches of the Continent was broken off", by the 
clause which forbade any one whose orders had been ob- 
tained abroad, to continue in his benefice or to administer 
the sacraments without re-ordination by the bishop. 
The Act further provided that all incumbents, holders 
of university offices, schoolmasters, and private tutors, 
should, in addition to taking the oaths prescribed by the 
Corporation Act, renounce the Covenant, promise to 
conform to the Liturgy and to ' endeavour no change or 
alteration of government either in Church or State.' 
The same tests, omitting only the renunciation of the 
Covenant, were imposed upon all the military forces of 
the kingdom, and upon the lord-lieutenants and deputy- 
lieutenants. 



1 662. Triumph of Anglican Church. 103 

In the case of the clergy no circumstance of aggrava- 
tion was omitted. The day named for submission had 
been chosen with rare malice. The great special 
tithes, their chief support, would, since they hardships of 
were not due till Michaelmas, pass to the new 
incumbents ; and, no provision being made for the main- 
tenance of the deprived ministers, as had been made in 
the case of the Anglican clergy ejected under the Com- 
monwealth, they would be thrown on the world destitute 
of support. A still more flippant disregard for justice was 
shown in the fact that, as the Revised Prayer Book was not 
published until St. Bartholomew's Eve, the Presbyterians 
were called upon to express their ' unfeigned assent and 
consent ' to everything contained in a book they had not 
yet seen. 

From their fellow Dissenters the Presbyterians received 
no encouragement. The Catholics and members of the 
Protestant sects, except in the case of a few The other 
Independents, held no benefices, and were Dissenters. 
therefore untouched by the Act. Nor had they any cause 
to love the Presbyterians, whose hand had formerly been 
heavy upon them. Moreover they were anxious about 
their own fate, and they might well hope that, if the lot 
of the Presbyterians were made the same as their own, 
their large numbers must before long lead to a general 
measure of toleration. 

They found hope in an unexpected quarter. Both 
Charles and Clarendon were opposed to the rapid growth 
of the persecuting spirit, the former because of the ob- 
stacles it placed in the way of favouring the Catholics, 
Clarendon from fear of disturbance and revolt. On 
March 17 the Chancellor endeavoured in vain to introduce 
a clause enabling the King to dispense with the provisions 
of the Act, declaring that it was recommended by Charles 



104 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1662. 

himself. The Act being passed, and Parliament being pro- 
rogued, Charles, in compliance with the petition of the Pres- 
, , byterians, which was supported by Monk and 

Charles J . 

baffled in Manchester, declared his intention of sus- 

to^uspencf pending its execution for three months. Now 
the law. however he was deserted by Clarendon, who, 

while glad to see a Parliamentary recognition of the dis- 
pensing power, would not as a constitutional lawyer favour 
a claim to an autocratic use of it by the Crown ; and he only 
gave way when Charles told him that his own honour was 
pledged to this course. The vehement opposition of the 
bishops, especially of Sheldon, the representative of the 
irreconcilable section of the Church, speedily convinced 
Charles of the impossibility of success, and the design was 
put aside. The spectacle was presented of the Presbyte- 
rians, who usually placed the law above the prerogative, 
calling upon the King to suspend the law by an uncon- 
stitutional use of power, and of the bishops, generally the 
staunch upholders of the prerogative, resolutely opposing 
its exercise. 

The Presbyterians were determined to refuse the terms 
of Uniformity. They adhered to their determination in 
spite of liberal offers from the king of bishoprics and 
The fare wei deaneries. On Sunday, August 17, from all 
s" Bartholo- tne Presbyterian pulpits in the city, the clergy 
mew's Day. w h re f U sed to conform preached their fare- 
well sermons to crowded and sympathetic congregations ; 
and on the next Sunday no fewer than 2,cxx> clergymen, 
the best of the great Presbyterian body, retired into 
voluntary poverty and professional exile. Henceforth 
Presbyterianism was the creed, not of a large part of the 
English Church, but of a Dissenting sect ; the Church of 
England had taken its final shape, the shape which it 
holds to this day. 



1662. Relations with the Continent. 105 

We get a glimpse of the difficulty of carrying out this 
Act of Uniformity, and of its results, in one part at least 
of the country, from the reports of SethWard, then Bishop 
of Exeter, to Sheldon. In December 1663 he tells the 
archbishop that at least fourteen of the justices of the peace 
for Devonshire alone ' are accounted arrant Effects of 
Presbyters, and some of them esteemed as the Act. 
dangerous as any men within the diocese ; those there- 
fore in Exeter who have obeyed the laws have been 
checked and discouraged for their labour.' Some of the 
most populous places had stood void, he says, ever since 
the passing of the Act, and complaints were almost uni- 
versal, ' either that they have no minister, or a pitiful 
ignorant one, or the minister hath complained of want of 
sufficient maintenance.' One minister whom he had put 
in prison had told him that ' after his removal he staid 
some months to see whether any other would supply his 
place ; but at length, finding that no man was put in 
his stead, and that the people went off, some to atheism 
and debauchery, others to sectarianism (for he is a Pres- 
byterian), he lesolved to adventure to gather his flock 
again. And he had gathered a flock of 1,500 or 2,000 on 
Sunday last when he was taken from the pulpit and 
brought away.' 

2. First Connection with France. Royal Marriages. 
Sale of Dunkirk. 

The restoration of monarchy in England had been 
accomplished without the intervention of a single foreign 
power. But scarcely was the crisis over before Charles 
and the various continental Governments sought to take 
mutual advantage of the change. 

Charles's object was a simple one ; it was to get money. 
The revenue settled upon him by Parliament was quite 



lo6 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1660 

inadequate to the various calls of government, the payment 
of debts incurred abroad, the satisfaction of royalist de- 
Charles's mands, and the expenses of his more disrepu- 
objects. table pleasures. Still less was it sufficient to 
enable him to gratify the desire which he fitfully enter- 
tained throughout his reign of ruling as Louis XIV. ruled, 
of establishing an intelligent despotism, independent of 
Parliament, founded upon armed force and the sympathy 
of Dissent, which might enable him to carry out his prom- 
ised toleration of Catholicism. He determined therefore 
to secure his freedom from control by other means, and 
this determination, however unsteadily maintained, is the 
keynote of his foreign policy throughout the reign. 

His first application was to the Dutch; and from them, 

as the price of an alliance, he demanded two millions. 

The renewal, however, of the Navigation Act 

He applies ..... 

to the of 165 1 (see p. 1 19), by which their carrying 

trade had in a great measure been destroyed, 
formed an insuperable obstacle to union. Charles had 
plenty of alternatives, for Spain, France, and Portugal 
and to were approaching him with rival offers. In 

Spain. September 1660 he let the Spaniards under- 

stand that his alliance was merely a question of price. 
They offered him whatever money he might want, but 
they demanded that Jamaica and Dunkirk should be re- 
stored to them. The proposal was at once refused, and 
the plan for Charles's marriage with the second daughter 
of Philip IV. being rejected by that monarch, the nego- 
tiations were broken off. 

With far greater satisfaction Charles turned to France. 

He was the son of-a French princess, and he 

nection with had received great kindness from his cousin 

France. Louis. An alliance between the two crowns 

was from the dynastic and personal point of view ob- 



1 66 1. Relations with the Continent. 1 07 

viously a natural one. On Louis's side considerations of 
state-craft pointed in the same direction. At the Peace of 
the Pyrenees the French King had bound himself to give 
no aid to Portugal, then in rebellion against Spain, and he 
had acceded to the condition that that country should not 
be included in the treaty. Openly the promise was kept ; 
secretly it was systematically broken. But Louis now saw 
the means of supplying indirectly from England more 
effective help. 

For many years the course of events had in general led 
to friendliness between Portugal and England, and a 
formal renewal of the alliance had been long 
under consideration. In September 1660 a Portugese 
marriage was proposed between Charles and 
the Infanta Catherine. Portugal offered as dowry the 
cession of Tangier and Bombay, freedom of commerce 
in Brazil and the East Indies, perfect religious liberty for 
English subjects in all Portuguese territories, and a sum 
of 500,000/. Charles was in return to assist Portugal 
with 3,000 men and 1,000 horses, and to put eight frigates 
at her disposal. 

To hinder this marriage Spain had recourse to every 
device of intrigue and menace. Louis in turn spared no 
pains to accomplish a match by which, without formally 
violating his engagements, his old enemy could be so 
weakened. The result was a signal victory of French 
influence. The English Privy Council unanimously ap- 
proved the marriage, and the contract was signed on 
June 23, 1661. In a speech couched in terms of studied 
insult to Spain Charles communicated his intention to the 
newly elected Parliament, and there too it was received 
with acclamation. To enable him to carry out the terms 
of the contract Louis sent Charles a sum of 80,000/. Ten 
English men-of-war, with 3,000 men from the Scotch 



108 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1661. 

garrisons, sailed to the Portuguese coast. Even as early 
as January 1662 it was noticed that English Protestant 
congregations had been established in Lisbon. 

Two other marriages of importance took place in the 
royal family. That between James and Clarendon's 
Marriages daughter, Anne Hyde, had been secretly 

brSherand celebrated before the Restoration; it was 
sister, now publicly acknowledged. The personal 

connection with France was still more firmly cemented 
by the union of Charles's favourite sister, Henrietta, re- 
nowned for beauty, wit and ability in intrigue, and pos- 
sessing great influence over Charles himself, with Louis's 
younger brother, the Duke of Anjou, who afterwards 
became the Duke of Orleans. 

By the Portuguese marriage Louis had made the first 
step in securing a hold on Charles, and thereby on 
English affairs. But on the other hand it was, by the 
vast commercial advantages it secured to England, and 
from the aggressive alliance which it carried with it 
against the chief papal power of the world, entirely con- 
sonant with the Cromwellian policy of making us, in 
Dryden's magnificent phrase, 'freemen of the Continent.' 
Very different was a step which emphatically marked the 
policy of isolation henceforth pursued, and which formed 
another aid to the realisation of French ambition. 

As late as the summer of 1661 Clarendon had urged 
upon the Commons the necessity of maintaining Dunkirk, 
Sale of an d the danger of its ever again being in 

Dunkirk. hostile hands ; and Parliament had proposed 

its perpetual annexation to the Crown. The expense 
incurred for the defence of Portugal, however, the King's 
desire to be independent of Parliament, the absence of 
any wish for continental influence, and the connection 
with France, all contributed to suggest the advisability of 



1662. Louis and Spam. 109 

raising money by the sale of the town to that power. 
Strong arguments were easily forthcoming. It cost 
120,000/. a year, it brought no trade, it had a dangerous 
harbour, and its defence from the land side was extremely 
difficult. On the other hand, if it fell into an enemy's 
power, it could easily be blockaded by England from the 
sea. The cost of the maintenance of Tangier, Jamaica, 
and Bombay, and the probability of war with either 
France or Spain if it were retained, were dwelt upon. 
Clarendon at length gave way ; after some haggling the 
price was fixed at 200,000/., less than the cost of two 
years' maintenance ; and in November 1662, to the great 
scandal of the Protestant powers, but with scarcely a dis- 
sentient in the Privy Council, and without a murmur in 
Parliament, Dunkirk was handed over to the French. 
It was understood that the money was to be used, not for 
the ordinary occasions of the Crown, but only for press- 
ing accidents, such as the quelling of an insurrection. 
Charles looked to it to provide himself with an army. 



CHAPTER IX. 



LOUIS AND SPAIN. THE DUTCH REPUBLIC. 
I 660- I 662. 

The death of Mazarin in March 1661 found Europe in a 
state of almost absolute repose. The Peace of West- 
phalia had reformed the constitution of the Europe at 
German Empire; the Treaty of the Pyre- P eace - 
nees had confirmed a truce in the long warfare of France 
and Spain ; while the relative positions of Sweden, Den- 
mark, and Poland had been settled by the Treaties of 
Copenhagen and Oliva in 1661. The independence of 



no English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1660. 

the Dutch Republic had been recognised. The mon- 
archy was permanently re-established in England. 

1. Personality of Louis XIV. 

Already however the agencies which were to put an 
end to this short breathing space were at work. Of these 
none was more potent than the ambition and the power 
of Louis XIV. That monarch was the central figure of 
Europe, the despotic sovereign of a united country and 
the master of a superb army. Mazarin and the Fronde 
had schooled him well. To repress his passions, to keep 
Character of down the princes of the blood, to be distant 
Louis XIV. -with hi s courtiers, to be secret in his busi- 
ness, to cultivate his natural talents for dissimulation, 
to work hard — these were to be the principles which 
should make him a great king. Above all, the Cardinal 
had urged him, with his dying breath, to have no prime 
minister. He was to succeed to a double power and 
prestige, those of the monarchy and those of the prime 
ministership. He took possession of both parts of his 
inheritance at once. On the day after Mazarin's death 
he announced to the council his intention of taking the 
government solely upon himself. His ministers — his 
gens d'affaires, he called them — were henceforward to 
look to him for instructions. 

His mother and the courtiers laughed at what they 
imagined was but a passing whim. But the whim lasted 
more than fifty years. During all that time no man in 
his kingdom worked harder than he. No despatch was 
signed, no agreement sealed, no money paid without his 
knowledge. His energy and diligence were no more 
remarkable than his ability. Devoid of political morality, 
he looked upon the state of Europe with an eye piercing 
and cynical, while the despatches written by himself to 



1 66 1. Louis and Spain. HI 

his ambassadors in all the European courts are models 
of clearness of expression and correctness of insight. 

2. LOUIS CLAIMS (i) THE WHOLE SPANISH SUCCESSION, (2) THE 
IMMEDIATE POSSESSION OF THE SPANISH NETHERLANDS. 

It was in his efforts to establish his claim upon the 
succession to the Spanish monarchy that these qualities 
were first exercised. Should Philip IV. and his only son 
die, as seemed probable, without the birth of any other 
male heir in the meantime, Louis was determined to up- 
hold the right of his wife. That right, as has been seen, 
was rejected by the Spaniards on the ground that both 
she and Louis had signed a renunciation. Louis replied 
in the first place that the Spaniards had themselves 
rendered that renunciation invalid by the non-payment 
of the dowry, and, secondly, that no renunciation could 
be upheld which was contrary to a fundamental law of 
the Spanish monarchy. 

In June 1661 the hereditary prince was on his death- 
bed. Another child was about to be born to Philip IV. 
and his second wife. Should this be a son the question 
of renunciation would of course not be raised, and the 
French ambassador was ordered in that case merely to 
press for the payment of the dowry. On November 1 
the prince died ; but a week later another boy, the future 
Charles II., was born, and Louis's path to the succession 
to the whole Spanish monarchy was thus completely 
barred for the time. 

His claim, too, had been contested from another side. 
The second daughter of Philip III., unlike Louis's mother, 
the elder daughter, had signed no renuncia- 
tion of her rights. She had married the late Emperor's 
Emperor Ferdinand, and was the mother of c aim * 
the present Emperor Leopold, who therefore claimed in 



112 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1662. 

her right. To this Louis again had a double answer : first, 
the old one of the inherent invalidity of all these renun- 
ciations ; secondly, that in any case it would be neither 
his mother nor the Emperor's, but the present unmarried 
Infanta who, if she married, would transmit her right to 
her husband and descendants ; and, therefore, unless 
she married the Emperor, neither he nor his children 
could claim in any case. This contention of the Em- 
peror, like that of Louis himself, fell of course into 
abeyance at the birth of the new prince. 

But though the prospect of grasping the whole 
Spanish monarchy had thus for the time faded away, 
, . , . the ingenuity of Louis's advisers had sug- 

Louis claims ° - . . f 

the Low gested another plan by which he might 

The>l e J<?- compass that portion of it most immediately 
volutionis. important to him. By a local custom of 
Brabant, referring solely to private property, and in 
force in some only of the provinces of the Low Countries, 
it was established that if a man married twice, the suc- 
cession went to the children of the first marriage, to the 
exclusion of those of the second. This local custom — 
the jus devolutions, as it was called — Louis audaciously 
determined to invoke in order to form a claim, at Philip 
IV. 's death, to the whole of the Low Countries. That 
king had married twice, and Louis had married the 
only daughter of the first marriage. The death of the 
hereditary prince, her brother, left her, therefore, if the 
local and private custom was to hold with regard to the 
succession — a contention ridiculed by the Spaniards — 
the heiress to the Low Countries, to the entire exclusion 
of the children of Philip's second marriage, the present 
infanta and the boy just born. 

Louis had meanwhile been endeavouring to compass 
his object by diplomacy. Hopeless of conquering Por- 



1 662. The Dutch Republic. 113 

tugal by force, Spain, aware of the help which Louib was 
unavowedly sending to it, though ignorant of his con- 
nection with Charles II. of England, now, by promises 
of eventual consent to the nullity of the renunciation, 
and by urging the argument that England ain 

would, if not checked, grow too powerful at desires a 
sea, endeavoured to draw the French mon- against 
arch into a coalition against that country. England. 
Louis's answer was short and decisive. Ridiculing the 
idea of England growing too powerful, he declared that 
to justify him in the eyes of Europe for such a step he 
must have striking advantages offered him. Louis's 
His terms were, (1) a secret revocation of terms - 
the renunciation ; (2) the immediate possession of Franche 
Comte, Luxemburg, Hainault, and Cambrai ; and, failing 
the revocation, the towns of Aire and St. Omer as well. 
On these conditions alone would he consent to break with 
the King of England. 

But Spain was not yet brought low enough to listen 
to such humiliating terms, and though Louis changed his 
tone to one of menace, he found himself 

Negotia- 

unable to move the court of Madrid from tions broken 
its attitude of passive resistance to all his 
claims. In October 1662 the negotiations were finally 
broken off. Louis had meanwhile been looking else- 
where for means of accomplishing his ends. 

3. The Dutch Republic 
In striking contrast to the success of the monarchical 
principle in France and England was the development 
of the power of the Dutch Republic. By the 

• 1 / 1 1 1 1 11 Nature of 

side of the absolute monarchy and the caste the consti- 

feeling of France, and the threefold system 

of King, Established Church, and Parliament in Eng- 

1 



114 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1660. 

land, was reigning a form of government in which there 
was neither arbitrary power, aristocratic privilege, nor 
ecclesiastical supremacy. It consisted of a league of 
seven provinces, each province preserving perfect inde- 
pendence as regarded its internal affairs, but contributing 
its share to mutual defence. The province in its turn 
was a federation of towns, each of which bore to its 
province the same relation as that of the province to 
the whole federated body. The town was thus the unit 
of national life, the basis of the constitution. Its govern- 
ment was in the hands of a town council of varying 
number, a merchant oligarchy, for the most part self- 
elected, who delegated their executive power and finan- 
cial administration to a ' regent ' ; and it possessed com- 
plete autonomy in its own concerns. It sent deputies to 
the Provincial Estates, which regulated the entire internal 
affairs of that province, administrative, financial, military, 
and judicial. Similarly each province sent deputies to 
the States General, who, assisted by a Council of State 
composed of twelve members selected from the different 
provinces, voted upon the imperial questions of the Re- 
public — peace, war, and measures for defence — fixed the 
contingent of each province to the army and fleet, and 
had the right of concluding alliances and of nominating 
the commanders-in-chief both by land and sea. Each 
province however was bound to obey the States General 
only if its own deputies agreed in the decision ; and simi- 
larly each town was bound to obey the decision of the 
Provincial Council only if its deputies had concurred. 

Admirably adapted for the encouragement of local 
ambition, and for the training of a large proportion of the 

, , , citizens in the public service, such a consu- 

lts defect. . . r . 

tution was evidently unsuitable for crises 
when a common danger demanded immediate action on 



1660. The Dutch Republic. 115 

the part of the Republic as a whole. The need of a cen- 
tral authority overriding the individual interests or pre- 
judices of each province or town was then keenly felt. 
The history of the Republic therefore shows a tendency to 
fall back in times of national peril upon the principle of a 
limited monarchy, and, when that danger is over, to revert 
to the original constitution. The struggle by which its in- 
dependence was secured had been carried out under the 
House of Orange. To this family it had for a time given 
the supreme military and civil authority, in the person of 
the first ' Stadtholder,' William of Orange; and this 
authority, legally elective, had gradually become heredi- 
tary. Four members of the Orange house successively 
ruled over the Seven Provinces, and it was not until 165 1 that 
the attempt of William II., the husband of Mary, daughter 
of Charles I., to acquire absolute sovereignty by a coup 
d' etat, led to the abolition of the stadtholdership. The 
autonomy of each town and province was then re-estab- 
lished, and, to render impossible the recurrence of an 
attempt at absolutism, the military command was so 
divided that for purposes of foreign war the army was 
well-nigh useless. 

The Republic had shaken off the domination of a per- 
son ; it now fell under the domination of a single province. 
Holland was overwhelmingly preponderant Supremacy 
in the federation. She possessed the richest, of Holland - 
most populous, and most powerful towns. She contrib- 
uted more than one-half of the whole federal taxation. 
She had the right of naming the ambassadors at Paris, 
Stockholm, and Vienna. The fact that the States General 
met on her territory — at the Hague — necessarily gave her 
additional influence and prestige. It was through her 
energy that the attempt of William II. had proved abor- 
tive. She now stepped into the vacant place. With the 



u6 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1660. 

Stadtholder's power that of the States General also, as 
representing the idea of centralisation, had largely disap- 
peared. The Provincial Estates of Holland, therefore, 
under the title of 'Their High Mightinesses,' became the 
principal power — to such an extent, indeed, that the term 
John de ' Holland ' had by the time of the Restoration 

Witt and become synonymous among foreign powers 

of Orange. with the whole Republic. Their chief min- 
ister was called ' The Grand Pensionary,' and the office 
had been since 1653 filled by one of the most remarkable 
men of the time, John de Witt. 

John de Witt therefore represented, roughly speaking, 
the power of the merchant aristocracy of Holland, as op- 
posed to the claims of the House of Orange, which were 
supported by the noblesse, the army, the Calvinistic clergy, 
and the people below the governing class. Abroad the 
Orange family had the sympathy of monarchical Govern- 
ments. Louis XIV. despised the Government of ' Mes- 
sieurs les Marchands,' while Charles II., at once the uncle 
and the guardian of the young Prince of the house of 
Orange, the future William III. of England, and mindful 
of the scant courtesy which, to satisfy Cromwell, the 
Dutch had shown him in exile, was ever their bitter and 
unscrupulous foe. 

The empire of the Dutch Republic was purely commer- 
cial and colonial, and she held in this respect the same 
position relatively to the rest of Europe that 
commercial England holds at the present day. To this 
supremacy many causes had contributed. 
Her geographical position, between northern and southern 
Europe, the rivers from central Europe reaching the sea 
on her shores, her extended coast-line, made her a con- 
venient centre for the reception and distribution of the 
wealth of all the lands of the earth. The natural barren- 



1 523-1670. The Dutch Republic. 1 17 

ness of the land, and the incessant struggle to keep a 
footing against the inroads of the ocean, had formed a 
thrifty, hardy, and patient race, while the abundant fish- 
eries on her coasts had made of a large part of her pop- 
ulation the most skilful and daring sailors of the world. 
Speedily her fleets went farther afield. As early as 1523 
no fewer than 2,000 vessels, making three voyages a year, 
were reaping rich harvests in English and Scotch fishing 
grounds; in 1547 eight ships of war attended to defend 
them from attack, and in 1635, such importance did the 
Dutch attach to this source of their wealth that they paid 
a sum of 30,000/. for permission to fish that summer in 
the English waters. But meantime, and chiefly from a 
cause of a different nature, the trade of the world had 
been gradually drifting into their hands. While central 
Europe was being desolated by the Thirty Years' War the 
United Provinces formed a haven of rest for industry ; 
and while every other nation was driving out, by war or 
religious persecution, the best of her working population, the 
exiles found a ready welcome in a land in which religious 
toleration was a fundamental law. Under this constant in- 
flux of skill and enterprise, aided by a wise commercial 
policy, the wealth of the country increased with vast 
rapidity, while through her navies, developed out of the 
fishing fleet, and formed of vessels which, though far 
roomier than those of other countries, were manned with 
fewer hands, she was year by year acquiring a colonial 
empire in every continent, and absorbing the carrying 
trade of the world. In 1604, Raleigh, in a remarkable 
memoir to James I., complained that English enterprise 
was confined to fetching coals from Newcastle to London ; 
and at the same date the fleets of the Republic were to be 
found in the East Indies, the Moluccas, Java, Guinea, 
Ceylon, the Malaccas, Sumatra, the Cape of Good Hope, 



Ii8 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1651 

Brazil, the Coromandel Coast, Malabar, and had captured 
the chief Portuguese possessions in Asia and Africa. By 
1669 John de Witt was able with truth to say that 'the 
Hollanders had well-nigh beaten all nations by traffic out 
of the seas, and become the only carriers of goods 
throughout the world.' And in 1670 their position is thus 
described in the ' Lex Mercatoria ' : — ' The commerce of 
Holland, which may be termed universal, reassembles in 
the United Provinces this infinite number of merchan- 
dizes, which it afterwards diffuses in all the rest of Europe. 
It produces hardly anything, and yet has wherewith to 
furnish other people all they can have need of. It is with- 
out forests and almost without wood, and there is not seen 
anywhere else so many carpenters, which work in naval 
construction. Its lands are not fit for the culture of vines, 
and it is the staple or mart of wines, which are gathered 
in all parts of the world, and of brandies drawn from them. 
It has no mines nor metals, and yet there is found almost 
as much gold and silver as in New Spain or Peru, as 
much iron as in France, as much tin as in England, and 
as much copper as in Sweden. The wheat and grains 
that are there sowed hardly suffice for nourishment of a 
part of its inhabitants, and it is notwithstanding from hence 
that the greatest part of its neighbours receive them, either 
for their subsistence or trade ; in fine, it seems as if the 
spices grew there, that the oils were gathered there, that 
it nourished the precious insects which spin the silk, and 
that all sorts of drugs for medicine or dyeing were in the 
number of its products and of its growth ; its warehouses 
are so full, and its merchants seem to carry so much to 
strangers, that there is not a day that ships do not come in 
or go out, and frequently entire fleets.' 

This is the more remarkable as in 165 1 a rude blow 
had been struck at the commercial supremacy of the 



1 6 54- The Dutch Republic. 119 

Dutch. In that year the famous Act of Navigation had 
been passed in England, by which it was provided that 
no merchandise, the produce of Asia, Africa, Navigation 
or America, should be imported into England Act of lf51 - 
in any but English-built ships, commanded by an English 
master, and navigated by a crew three-fourths of whom 
should be Englishmen ; nor any European goods ex- 
cept in English ships or in ships belonging to the 
countries from which these articles originally came. No 
fish might be exported from or imported into England or 
Ireland except of English taking. By this law the carry- 
ing trade with England was utterly destroyed. It led to 
a repetition of the great duel between the two countries. 
In 1652 Tromp, to signify his power to sweep the seas, 
sailed down the Channel with a broom at his masthead. 
Naval battles, the like of which had never been seen, 
filled the next two years. But in 1654, when the master- 
fulness of Cromwell and the genius of Blake had-finally 
triumphed, the Republic was forced to make Treaty with 

peace on terms which showed that the com- England, 

1654. 
mand of the sea was passing to her enemy. 

Not only was she compelled to assent to the Navigation 

Act, as well as to other conditions no less humiliating, but 

she even agreed that ' Dutch ships, as well of war as 

others, meeting any of the ships of war of the English 

Commonwealth in the British seas shall strike their flag 

and lower their topsails.' It was not to be expected that 

with her traditions and resources she would contentedly 

bear this badge of inferiority. Her feeling at the time of 

the Restoration was a burning desire to recover her old 

position. 



120 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1662. 



CHAPTER X. 

LOUIS AND THE SPANISH NETHERLANDS. 

1. Negotiations with DeWitt. 
It was obviously of importance to Louis to secure at least 
the benevolent neutrality of the Republic should he de- 
cide to carry out his enterprise on the Spanish Nether- 
lands. De Witt, in like manner, was looking round for 
support in case the personal antipathy of Charles II. and 
the rivalry between the Dutch and English should lead to 
a renewal of war ; while, foreseeing a moment when he 
might have upon his frontier no longer the nerveless 
power of Spain but the victorious armies of France, he 
was anxious to avoid the chance of this force being turned 
against the Republic. 

Under these feelings a treaty was easily concluded in 
April 1662, whereby France and the Republic guaran- 
teed each other's European possessions, with 
between their commercial and maritime interests, and 

£e Unifec? arranged for mutual defence if attacked. 
Provinces, Liberty of fishing was reciprocally granted, 

April 1662. ' j , • 

and r ranee agreed to levy no more import 
duties upon Dutch shipping. 

De Witt's immediate object however was by all means 
to keep the Spanish Low Countries as a barrier between 
the United Provinces and the oncoming power of France. 
But he could take no overt step until Louis had acknowl- 
edged the designs which he had already guessed. To 
secure this acknowledgment became therefore the object 
of his diplomacy. 

Three plans had been put forward for the treatment 



1663. Louis and the Spanish Netherlands. 121 

of the Spanish Low Countries. Richelieu had favoured 
the plan of ' cantonment,' by which they were Three 
to be formed into an independent catholic §p a n n ^hLo*w 
republic; Mazarin was bent upon their be- Countries, 
coming part of the French dominions ; the Dutch had 
more than once suggested equal partition with France. 
But as the power of France grew more threatening, the 
Dutch in their anxiety to have her ' amicum sed non 
vicinum,' leaned more and more to the plan of canton- 
ment, and even affected to listen to a fourth proposal by 
Spain, that the ten Spanish provinces should form a de- 
fensive league with the Republic. 

Louis was as anxious to avoid a premature disclosure 
of his design as De Witt was to extract it. The astute- 
ness of the Grand Pensionary however secured the first 
diplomatic success. He formally pressed upon Louis 
various solutions of the difficulty, especially that of ' par- 
tial cantonment,' by which France and the Republic 
should each take the strategic towns on their respective 
frontiers, while the rest of the country became an inde- 
pendent republic ; he represented that the great Dutch 
towns, tempted by the Spanish promises of wide com- 
mercial privileges, were so eager for the defensive league 
just mentioned that he should not be able much longer 
to withstand the clamour ; and he declared that however 
friendly he might personally be to French interests, he 
could not actively assist them until Louis's intentions were 
distinctly expressed. After many months of Louis dis- 
diplomatic fencing he was rewarded. For Devolution 
once off his guard, Louis permitted D'Es- design, 
trades, the French ambassador, to place the devolution 
claim formally before De Witt. 

De Witt, having unmasked Louis, at once changed 
his tone. He replied that the claim, founded upon a 



122 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1664. 

purely local custom of Brabant, could not be entertained 
for a moment; and in spite of Louis's haughty anger, 
De Witt ne exposed his reasons for so treating it in 

rejects it. a mos t able historical memoir. Then, com- 

ing boldly to the point, he declared that a pursuance of 
the design would drive him to accept the Spanish league. 
Moreover, he said, the Emperor, now contracted to the 
Infanta, possessed a claim of at least equal right in the 
eyes of Europe, and he should be ready therefore to 
entertain proposals from Vienna. 

Firm however as was De Witt's tone, he was sur- 
rounded by difficulties. The activity of the partisans of 
the House of Orange was daily increasing ; and he 
Difficulties knew that the acceptance of the Spanish 
of De Witt. league would excite their most vehement 
opposition and imperil his own power. He was how- 
ever released from the need of fully declaring himself by 
the action of the principal towns, which refused to concur 
in the plan of partial cantonment, on the special ground 
that the continuance of the closure of the Scheldt (see p. 
8), by which measure the trade of their great commercial 
rival Antwerp had been effectually crippled, was not pro- 
vided for. Freed from the necessity of further entertain- 
o j r , m g the French scheme, De Witt now suc- 

End of the ° 

negotiation, ceeded in convincing the towns of the m- 
advisability of accepting the Spanish proposal. 
He thus secured a full knowledge of the ultimate objects 
of Louis without being bound to any definite course. 

Louis, too, was well satisfied. The Spanish league had 
been the one thing he feared, and that danger was past. 
The Republic was for the time driven to inaction. He 
himself was sure of his own power to strike when the 
proper moment should come ; and though the devolution 
claim had been unhesitatingly rejected by De Witt, the 



1663. Louis and the Spanish Netherlands. 123 

great advantage had been gained of making it familiar to 
men's minds. He now pursued his design in another 
quarter. 

2. Death of Philip IV. Rejection of the French 
Claims. Louis and Spain. 

Day by day Spain was falling into greater decrepitude. 
Her treasury was exhausted, her armies unequipped and 
inefficient, her navy had practically ceased Decline of 
to exist, her diplomacy was despised. The Spam. 
failure to reconquer Portugal became ever more apparent, 
and she was even compelled to stand idle while the 
Moors insulted her coasts with impunity. 

Philip IV. looked forward with acute pain to the dis- 
ruption which threatened his kingdom. It was more than 
doubtful whether his infant son would sur- condition of 
vive himself. The unhappy boy appeared tne Infant - 
indeed in his physical infirmities to be no inappropriate 
symbol of the condition of the monarchy to which he 
was heir. At four years of age he was still at his nurse's 
breast ; his head was not properly formed ; neither his 
hair nor teeth were grown ; he was unable to walk with- 
out assistance, and he was incessantly subject to fevers, 
eruptions, and bleedings. 

Philip had determined to secure what support he could 
for the tottering monarchy by marrying the young Infanta, 
Margaret Elizabeth, to the Emperor Leopold, 

x Marriage of 

naming her at the same time heir to the the infanta 
monarchy should the male line become ex- Emperor 
tinct, to the exclusion of all other claims ; Leopold, 
and the contract was signed on December 18, 1663. The 
news of the intended marriage had been announced to 
Louis in May ; he coldly replied that he trusted it would 
entail no conditions prejudicial to his interests. 



124 Eiiglish Restoration and Louis XIV. 1665. 

Affairs in the Portuguese war had meanwhile been going 
from bad to worse. On January 18, 1663, the Spaniards 
Disasters in had been severely beaten, in great measure 
Portugal. through the generalship of the Frenchman 

Schomberg, and the valour of the English contingent. 
The campaign of 1664, though not marked by any deci- 
sive battle, was little less disastrous. In 1665 a final effort 
was determined upon, and Caracena, esteemed the best 
Spanish general of the day, was called from his govern- 
orship of the Low Countries to take the command. 
Nothing however could stay the ever hastening descent. 
On June 17 was fought the great and decisive battle of 
Villa Viciosa, resulting in the utter defeat of the Spanish 
army. The blow killed Philip IV. He let the despatch 
Death of which brought the tidings drop from his 

Philip iv. hand, exclaiming, ' It is God's will !' and daily 
and visibly fell to his grave. He died on September 17, 
1665. 

Spain however still possessed men who refused to 
accept all as lost. Upon the removal of Caracena, the 
Castel Low Countries had been placed under the 

£ e d Low in Marquis of Castel Rodrigo. Skilful, enter- 
Countries, prising, and devoted to his country, he 
determined, so far as the want of money or decent 
government at Madrid would allow, to place his province 
in a condition to meet an attack from France. To create 
a chain of forts which should replace those which the 
Peace of the Pyrenees had put into French hands, and 
in every way to expel French influence, were his great 
objects. His first general order forbade the inhabitants 
to wear the French dress or to follow the French fashion 
of the hair. Not until he applied to the Emperor for 
leave to raise troops in Gemany did he give Louis an 
excuse for interference. The use of the conditions in- 



1665. Louis and the Spanish Netherlands. 125 

serted in the Treaty of Westphalia and of Louis's bond 
with the German princes was at once apparent. He 
wrote to those whose territories blocked the road into the 
Low Countries, urging them to refuse a passage to the 
troops, and at the same time made such vehement com- 
plaints at Madrid that orders were sent to Castel Rodrigo 
to drop this part of his design. The Governor then 
proceeded to carry out a long-contemplated scheme. By 
the Peace of the Pyrenees Louis had acquired a free 
passage across the Lys at St. Venant. To render this 
acquisition useless, Castel Rodrigo determined to turn 
the course of the river by a canal starting above the 
town, which would have left it high and dry, and placed 
a new water defence between him and France. Once 
more however Louis complained at Madrid, and once 
more the harassed and enfeebled court gave way. 

The terms of Philip IV.'s will were looked to with the 
utmost anxiety by Louis. They were found to justify that 
anxiety to the full. The succession was left Will of 
first to the young Prince Charles and his Phili P IV - 
descendants, then to the Infanta and her children. Not 
a word was said as to the French claims, but the dowry 
provided by the Treaty of the Pyrenees was to be paid 
in full. 

Had Louis's hands been free, he would doubtless now 
have pressed his devolution claim to the Low Countries, 
which the Spanish council had unanimously rejected. 
But he was for the moment embarrassed. „ , 

t- .. Embarrass- 

He was at war with England, in compliance ment of 

with his treaty of April 1662 with the Dutch; 

he was, too, engaged in a diplomatic dispute with Sweden 

and in a quarrel with the Pope, and complications had 

arisen in Savoy. He again saw himself compelled to 

wait. 



126 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1663. 



CHAPTER XI. 

ENGLAND. PERSECUTION OF DISSENT. THE DUTCH 
WAR. 

i. The King's Attempt to Favour Popery. 
The English Parliament had separated in May 1662, 
gratified by their triumph over the Presbyterians in the 
Corporation and Uniformity Acts. They met again in 
February 1663, to find themselves confronted by an 
enemy whom they feared and detested with a still keener 
English hate and terror. The dominant factor in the 

regarding feverish politics of this reign is to be found 

Popery. i n the feeling of the ordinary English mind 

regarding Popery. The Churchman might despise and 
persecute the Presbyterian ; the Presbyterian, like the 
Scots, might regard the other sects as the advocates of 
the devil himself ; but in all of them hatred of Popery 
was the master impulse. Foxe's Book of Martyrs was 
favourite reading, and the fires of Smithfield were in the 
English imagination still alight. Another Armada seemed 
to hang like a dark cloud upon our shores, and a fresh 
Gunpowder Plot might at any moment burst forth. There 
was no atrocity which was not natural to the Papists ; 
the very debauchery of the court was laid to their charge ; 
and the cry which greeted the early Christians in Rome, 
' Christianos ad leones !' never rang in. their ears more 
pitilessly than the execrations which, when the panic rose 
to its height, were hurled at the ' Bloody Papists.' 

To the Englishman, then, it was the first duty of his 
King to hate and combat ' this last and insolentest 
attempt on the credulity of mankind.' But first to his 



1663. England and Catholicism. 127 

astonishment, and then to his indignant fury, he found, 
or thought he found, that Charles was of altogether 
another mind. Charles indeed had abun- Charles 
dant reasons for wishing to alleviate the helpthe° 
lot of the Catholics. He was himself a Catholics. 
Catholic, had been befriended while in exile by Catholic 
princes, and had made promises of favour which he 
earnestly wished to fulfil. Among his father's most 
faithful adherents had been many of the proscribed 
creed, and more than others they had been the mark for 
fine, imprisonment, and confiscation. He was at this 
very time in formal communication with Innocent XI. 
for a reconstitution of the English Church, whereby, 
while retaining its national and independent character, 
it should nominally acknowledge the Holy See as its 
head. 

These considerations had led to his former attempt to 
put off the execution of the Act of Uniformity for three 
months. 

He now repeated the attempt. On December 26, 1662, 
during the recess, he issued a declaration expressing his 
intention of doing his best to induce Parlia- His 
ment to mitigate the rigour of that measure, declaration, 
and to concur with him ' in making some Act for that 
purpose, as may enable him to exercise, with a 
more universal satisfaction, that power of dispensing 
which he conceived to be inherent in him' This declara- 
tion drew from Sheldon a letter in which the iniquity of 
the proposal, ' as tending to set up that most damnable 
and heretical doctrine of the Church of Rome, whore of 
Babylon,' was set before him in the plainest language. 
Undeterred, the King met Parliament on February 18, 
1663, with a speech in which he declared himself 'in 
nature an enemy to all severity for religion and con- 



228 E?iglish Restoratio?i and Louis XIV. 1663. 

science,' and, while asserting that he had no intention of 
favouring the Papists, though he owed them gratitude and 
Speech to admitted their claims to indulgence, and 

Parliament. desiring that laws might be made to hinder 
the spread of their doctrine, he asked for such a power of 
indulgence, ' to use upon occasions,' as might not need- 
lessly force them out of the kingdom, or give them cause 
to conspire against its peace. 

Before the words were well out of the King's mouth all 
men saw before them in tangible shape the enemy they 
dreaded most. They had kept out the fox, said William 
Coventry, were they now to let the wolf into the fold ? 
They did not know that Charles was himself a Catholic. 
But there was much going on to cause suspicion, and in 
every place where he wrote ' Dissent ' the English mind 
read ' Pope of Rome.' 

He was not long left in ignorance of the feelings he 
had roused. Within a week the Commons answered his 
appeal in a remonstrance of the boldest character. Such 
an indulgence, they said, ' will establish schism by a law. 
. . . It will no way become the gravity or the wisdom 
of a Parliament to pass a law at one session for uniformity, 
Remon- and at the next session (the reason for uni- 

stranceof formity continuing just the same) to pass 

Commons. another law to frustrate or weaken the exe- 
cution of it. It will expose your Majesty to the restless 
importunity of every sect or opinion. It will be a cause 
of increasing sects and sectaries, whose numbers will 
weaken the Protestant profession so far that it will become 
difficult for it to defend itself against them . . . and 
in time some prevalent sect will, at last, contend for an 
establishment, which, for aught can be foreseen, may end 
in Popery.' 

Charles now knew the conditions on which he might 



1663. England and Catholicism. 129 

expect to continue to rule. At all hazards Popjry was to 
be kept out of the kingdom, by the maintenance of a 
dominant State Church. A bill introduced in the House 
of Lords enabling him to dispense with the Act of Uni- 
formity was to his great disgust opposed by Clarendon 
and Southampton, and had ultimately to be dropped. 
He was made to understand that supply _ t , 

ri J Charles 

would depend upon the immediate issue of compelled 
a proclamation banishing all Catholic priests, the Catholic 
and he yielded. Then, taking him at his P nests - 
word as to hindering the growth of Popery, the Parlia- 
ment ' heartily laboured therein.' He now however put 
an end to the session. His object was to keep the matter 
as far as possible in his own hands, and to secure the 
sympathy of the Dissenters ; but he saw how keen was 
the anger caused by the over-confident tone of the 
Catholics, who had thought themselves secure in his 
favour, and before the Houses separated he promised 
that he would in the next session himself suggest bills for 
realising the purpose which the Parliament had at heart. 
On other questions the reaction against the principles 
of the Long Parliament was still in full force. The 
Triennial Act had secured Parliamentary government by 
declaring that if the king did not summon a fresh Parlia- 
ment within three years from a dissolution, the Peers 
were to undertake the dutv ; if they failed, the sheriffs of 
each county, and in the last resort the electors them- 
selves. An impression had got about that this meant 
that no Parliament might sit for more than three years. 
Skilfully availing himself of this to raise The 
jealousy in a body whose continuance was Triennial' 6 
thus threatened, and using to the utmost the Bil1 - 
influence of bribes and of the ' King's friends,' as those 
members who were attached to the court were called, 
J 



130 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1664. 

Charles so prepared the ground that on the reassem- 
bling of the Houses in March 1664 he ventured to tell 
them that, much as he was 'in love with Parliaments,' 
he ' never would suffer a Parliament to come together 
by the means prescribed by that bill.' Anxious no doubt 
to narrow the scope of their differences with the King, the 
Commons, while reasserting the principle of the Triennial 
Bill, removed from it all the precautions which had given 
it efficacy. The result of this abandonment of a strong 
position was not shown until the end of the reign, when 
for the last four years the King ruled absolutely and 
without a Parliament. 

2. Persecution of Protestant Dissent. 
The Commons then resumed their favourite work. 
The Act of Uniformity had of course led to the estab- 
lishment of unauthorised religious meetings 
Conventicle or ' conventicles,' against which the Anglican 
May 17, clergy and the Commons inveighed as hot- 

l664- beds of schism and sedition. Charles, ever 

unwilling to maintain resistance where attack was per- 
sistent, and anxious for a supply, gave his assent to the 
First Conventicle Act. This iniquitous measure, which 
was to be in force for three years, first renewed the Act 
of Uniformity of Elizabeth. It then absolutely forbade 
meetings of more than four persons besides the house- 
hold for religious services other than those allowed by 
the Church. Three months' imprisonment or a fine of 
5/. for the first offence, a double penalty for the second, 
banishment for seven years to the American plantations 
or a fine of 100/. for the third, and death for return or 
escape, were the penalties of the Act. Sheriffs, justices 
of the peace, or any persons commissioned by them, 
were authorised to break up conventicles and imprison 



1665. Persecution of Dissent. 131 

at will any who were present at or who permitted the 
meetings. Even married women were liable to a year's 
imprisonment unless their husbands paid a fine of foity 
shillings. Many devices were resorted to for evading 
these provisions. Sometimes, where houses were joined, 
a hole was cut in the wall so that two or three congrega- 
tions, each within the limits of the Act, might listen to a 
sermon. In the records of the Baptist congregation at 
Broadmead, near Bristol, we read of a conventicle being 
held in an upper room, the stairs being purposely packed 
so closely with women that the sheriff and his officers were 
unable to force their way up until time had been given for 
the minister and his congregation to escape by another 
way. Nevertheless the sufferings were very great. Upon 
the Quakers, who from the novelty and peculiarity of their 
doctrines were more suspected and obtained less popular 
sympathy than any others, the blow fell with special 
weight. Pepys, on August 7, 1664, relates how he saw 
several being dragged through the streets, and his only 
comment is : ' They go like lambs, without any resist- 
ance. I would to God they would conform, or be more 
wise and not be catched.' 

Before a year was over an Act still more cruel and 
drastic was carried in the Commons without a division, 
though again opposed in the Lords. During the desola- 
tion of the Plague many of the clergy had fled. Without 
authorisation the deposed Presbyterian minis- Five m^ 
ters stepped into their pulpits and once more Act - 
gathered eager congregations. But the vigilance of the 
Anglican Church was not asleep. The old cry was raised 
of ' schism and rebellion.' At the October session at 
Oxford in 1665 it was determined ' to prepare a shibboleth, 
a test to distinguish amongst those who will be peaceable 
and give hopes of future conformity, and who of malice 



132 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1663. 

and evil disposition remain obdurate' Once more the 
pressing need of supplies compelled Charles to give way. 
For consenting to the Five Mile Act he obtained a grant 
of a million and a quarter. No Nonconformist minister 
was permitted henceforth to teach in schools, or to come 
within five miles of any city, corporate town, or Parlia- 
mentary borough, unless he had previously subscribed 
an oath denying the lawfulness of taking arms under any 
circumstances against the King or those commissioned 
by him, and declaring that he would not * at any time 
endeavour any alteration of government in Church or 
State.' The penalty was six months' imprisonment or a 
fine of 40/. The infamous trade of informer, which had 
been created by the Conventicle Act, and which was so 
odious a feature of the reign, was encouraged by the 
promise of one-third of the fine exacted. It was too 
actually proposed, and the motion was only defeated by 
six votes, that this oath should be imposed upon the 
whole nation. 

The machinery of persecution was now complete. The 
Corporation and Uniformity Acts had settled forever the 
limits of the Church. The Conventicle and Five Mile 
Acts were the answer of the Church to the claim of Dissent, 
not to legal recognition, but to the right to exist. 

3. Causes of the Dutch War. 
While the Anglican Church was exacting to the utmost 
the vengeance she deemed her right for the injuries of 
twenty years, and was asserting the supremacy which 
was to exist in the same tyrannous form for nearly two 
centuries, the country was reeling under the stress of a 
great naval war. England and the Dutch Republic 
were now engaged in the second part of that tremendous 
contest for the commercial supremacy of the world, of 



1664. The Dutch War. 133 

which the first had been fought out between Tromp and 
Blake. The peace of 1654 had not only left the causes 
of enmity untouched, but, in the confessions of inferiority 
exacted from a high-spirited people, had established the 
certainty of a renewal of the conflict. The mutual advan- 
tages which the Protector and De Witt received from 
their alliance had indeed secured the continuance of 
peace during the Commonwealth ; and in Treat f 
September 1662, in spite of the Navigation September 
Act, a fresh treaty had been concluded be- 
tween the two nations. This treaty in itself however only 
served to advance the date of a rupture. It gave a mutual 
liberty of fishing to both countries ; but otherwise it was 
almost solely to the advantage of England. The invi- 
dious demand for the salute by Dutch ships to the Eng- 
lish flag in English waters was repeated and allowed ; 
Poleroon, the richest of the Molucca Islands, was nomi- 
nally restored to England ; and it was agreed that neither 
country should afford protection to the rebels of the 
other. 

But while the forms of amity were thus preserved be- 
tween the two Governments, the nations themselves were 
actually in fierce and incessant strife in 

J Informal 

every quarter of the globe. The Committee war in the 
of Trade reported to the Commons that the 
English were almost driven out of the East and West 
Indies, Turkey, and Africa, with a loss during the last 
few years of seven millions sterling. Wherever the 
Dutch had influence they compelled the natives to close 
their ports against their rivals. Poleroon had not been 
handed over according to the treaty, and the „ . . c 

° } ' Petition of 

English had been deprived of the lucrative the House 

slave trade from the Guinea coast to the Bar- 

badoes. On April 2, 1664, the House presented a petition 



134 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1664. 

to the King for the speedy redress of these wrongs, and 
unanimously expressed their willingness to assist him 
with their lives and fortunes. 

The Dutch were in a state of equal irritation. The 
acquisition of Bombay by England, in accordance with 
the treaty with Portugal, had especially roused their jeal- 
ousy. In the spring of 1664 Robert Holmes sailed on a 
filibustering expedition along the African coast ; he cap- 
tured eleven merchant vessels, and ousted the Dutch from 
Goree, Cape de Verde, Cape Corso, and many other 
Grievances places. In America the Dutch West India 
of the Dutch. Company had for forty years possessed 
Long Island and the opposite coast from the Connec- 
ticut River to Delaware Bay. A force under Colonel 
Nicholas drove them out, and Charles, after changing 
the name of New Amsterdam to New York, handed the 
country over to his brother James. Tobago and other 
good harbours in the Antilles were similarly wrested from 
the Zealand settlers. 

The Dutch were not idle under these aggressions. De 
Ruyter was sent to the African coast with orders to ' make 
war on the English and to do them all the harm he 
could.' In October he captured the English vessels at 
Goree, and took all their posts on the Guinea coast ex- 
cept Cape Corso. The English retaliated by cutting off 
the Dutch Bordeaux fleet, and after a severe action part 
of that from Smyrna also. All Dutch ships lying in 
British harbours were seized as prizes. 

Thus the nations necessarily drifted into formal war. 
' Must we,' said the Dutch envoy to Monk, ' sacrifice our 
commerce to yours?' 'Whatever happens,' replied 
Monk, ' we must have our part, or the peace will not last.' 
Even had the rulers been anxious for peace it could not 
have been maintained. But every private and family 



1665. The Dutch War. 135 

feeling in Charles's mind was enlisted against the Dutch. 
He disliked them personally, and he declared that his 
honour required him to be their enemy since .. 

Cromwell had been their ally. His brother Charles and 
James, an eager advocate of England's com- 
mercial interests, who hated the Dutch as a Calvinistic 
people, and who was ambitious of naval glory, sedulously 
cultivated these feelings. Charles, moreover, saw in the 
outbreak of war a chance of a liberal supply, and trusted 
that the binding influence of a great national crisis might 
bring to his side the classes disaffected to the Government. 
De Witt similarly hoped to find in the contest a means of 
frustrating the intrigues of the Orange faction. 

4. Preparations of England and the Republic 
The declaration of war by England in March, 1665, 
found the Crown, the people, and the Parliament for once 
in complete harmony. A supply of 2,500,- English pre- 
000/., the largest money grant hitherto given pactions, 
by an English Parliament, was unanimously voted ; and 
Charles's terms to the Dutch rose in proportion. He de- 
manded compensation for injuries to British commerce, 
the possession of various ports as pledges for payment, 
the right of search of all foreign ships in the Channel, and 
the renunciation by the Dutch of their fishing rights in 
British waters. Men talked of 'giving the law to the 
whole trade of Christendom,' and of making all ships 
which passed through the ' narrow seas ' pay toll to Eng- 
land. The number of vessels, with their armaments, 
which the Dutch were to be allowed to keep was men- 
tioned. The din of preparation resounded in every dock- 
yard in the kingdom. Commissioners were appointed in 
the principal ports for the sale of prizes ; and it was de- 
clared that all ships, no matter from what country they 



136 English Restoration a?id Louis XIV. 1665. 

sailed, were liable to capture if there were three Dutch 
sailors on board. Privateers were let loose in swarms ; 
the war, it was said, must support itself. 

No less high was the spirit of the Dutch. Heavy taxes 
were cheerfully voted ; the navy was brought to its utmost 
Dutch pre- efficiency, especially in the quality of the 
parations. guns, and the army, as far as possible, was 

reorganised. Entrenched batteries were erected at all the 
exposed points of the coast ; the peasants were armed to 
resist a possible landing. The sailors were to receive in- 
creased rations, and liberal pensions were voted for the 
families of all who should fall. Large rewards were offered 
for the capture of prizes, and 2,000/. for that of the ad- 
miral's flag-ship. For any captain who should strike to 
the enemy or retire without orders there was to be but one 
penalty — death. 

De Witt now claimed from Louis the fulfilment of the 
treaty of April 1662 (see p. 120). Louis however was 
Embarrass- much embarrassed. He was afraid that the 
ment of war might spread, and that he might be there- 

by hampered in his design on the Spanish 
Low Countries. Moreover, by declaring for the Dutch he 
would lose England; and from England he had the 
widest hopes, for Charles had given him to understand 
that, as far as he was concerned, France might have a 
free hand in the Netherlands. On the contrary, if he 
allowed the Dutch to succumb, De Witt would be over- 
thrown, the House of Orange would be triumphant, and 
the Republic would fall politically into dependence upon 
England. The first great action had taken place before 
he had made a move to redeem his promises. 



X 665. The Dutch War. 137 

5. The War, 1665. 
In spite of the disorder which reigned at the Admi- 
ralty, so vividly described by Pepys, an English fleet, 
such as had never been gathered together The ^^ 
before, was ready for sea in the spring of 1665. 
No fewer than 109 large vessels, with thirty of smaller 
size, manned by 21,000 men, many of them old Com- 
monwealth sailors, and armed with 4,192 guns, sailed 
under the command of James. The Dutch fleet, under 
the veteran Opdam, was of the same size, but manned 
with more numerous crews and armed with heavier guns. 
This superiority was, however, corrected by the greater 
knowledge of the art of sea warfare which the English 
had learnt under Blake. ' Nothing,' says an eye-witness, 
' can equal the good order of the English ; their line 
is perfect, and thus an enemy who comes near them has 
to undergo their whole fire ; . . . they fight like a line of 
cavalry in perfect discipline ; whilst with the Dutch the 
various squadrons leave their ranks and come separately 
to the charge.' 

The fleets met off Lowestoft at 4 a.m. on June 3. The 
explosion of Opdam's vessel was the turning-point of 
the battle, and the Dutch withdrew in con- Baule off 
fusion, Tromp with his squadron alone keep- Lowestoft, 
ing up the fight. But for the negligence of Jmie 3 ' ,( 
the English in ceasing the pursuit during the night, the 
hostile fleet would have been annihilated. As it was, the 
Dutch had lost, besides the admiral, three vice-admirals, 
nineteen first-rates, and 7,000 men. The English loss 
was four ships and 1,500 men ; that in officers, as in all 
the battles of this war, being proportionately great. The 
medal struck in London to celebrate the victory bore the 
proud motto, ' Et pontus serviet.' 

For a time deep discouragement weighed upon the 



1 38 E?iglish Restoration and Louis XIV. 1665. 

Dutch ; but the spirit of De Witt rose with disaster. The 
Measures of penalties due for flight were sternly meted 
De w at. ou j- t Three captains were shot, six more 

were degraded and had their swords broken above their 
heads. A superb mausoleum was raised at the Hague in 
honour of the dead. Light vessels put out to warn the 
different merchant fleets at sea. Ruyter arrived oppor- 
tunely with his Guinea squadron, while the East Indian 
and Mediterranean fleets also reached Holland with but 
small loss. 

Meanwhile the Dutch had been attacked from another 
side. Bernard Van Galen, Bishop of Munster, was the 
last representative of those warrior prelates 
charksYi. w h° had been conspicuous in the Middle 
JJjshopof Ages. His youth had been passed in the 
Munster, army, and his vast wealth enabled him to 

June 1665. 

indulge the military tastes which he had re- 
tained. His position on the Dutch frontier gave him at 
this time special importance, and Charles II., who knew 
that he had standing causes of jealousy with his neigh- 
bours, had skilfully secured his assistance. In June 1665 
an alliance had been concluded by which, in return for a 
heavy subsidy, the Bishop engaged to maintain an army 
of 30,000 men, and to attack the Dutch within two months. 
The Republic was almost incapable of resistance, the 
fortifications were out of repair, the best troops were on 
board the fleet, and she could oppose this attack with but 
7,000 untrained men. The British entered Dutch terri- 
tory in October, took Zutphen, and overran the province 
of Overyssel. 

Upon the sea however the Dutch had once more 
asserted their supremacy. A fresh fleet, raised by the 
efforts of De Witt, had sailed, in the midst of the stormy 
season, to challenge their foes wherever they might be 



1665. The Dutch War. 139 

found. The challenge was in vain. London was panic- 
striken by the Plague, the crews of the 
English fleet were themselves infected, and Jg a 1 n Dutch 
the sixty ships at the mouth of the Thames masters of 
lay sullenly inactive. The Dutch were com- November 
pelled at length to return to their own shores 
without firing a gun. None the less the expedition had 
served to raise the courage of their country, and to show 
the English how far they still were from the victory to 
which they had so confidently looked forward. 

6. Dutch Alliances. 
De Witt now again pressed Louis to fulfil his treaty 
engagements. Otherwise he threatened that he would 
make peace and enter into close alliance with the English. 
For Louis this meant a serious obstacle to the carrying 
out of his great project. He was moreover nettled at the 
coolness with which Charles II. had, in the flush of a 
first success, treated his offers of mediation. He there- 
fore declared his intention of sending a fleet to join the 
Dutch in the North Sea, and at the same time maintaining 
a squadron in the Mediterranean. He pro- Louis fulfils 
mised to employ his diplomacy in their wkhTh? 
favour wherever he had influence in Europe, Dutch. 
and to assist their intrigues with all Charles's discontented 
subjects. As soon as he was informed of Charles's treaty 
with the Bishop of Minister he sent a corps to join the 
Dutch troops who were resisting that Prelate. The con- 
duct of the French showed however how little their 
sympathies lay with their nominal allies. They behaved 
as if they were in an hostile country. They pillaged the 
people and insulted their religion, they openly cursed the 
Dutch cause, and they drank publicly in the market-place 
of Maestricht to the healths of the King of England and 



140 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1666. 

the Bishop of Munster. The French commander success- 
fully avoided every favourable opportunity for attacking 
the Bishop's troops, and indeed acted in such a way as 
to raise to the utmost the ill-will already existing between 
the two nations. 

Nevertheless the fact that France was in alliance with 
the Dutch, and had actually declared war against Eng- 
Diplomatic land (January 1666), had given far greater 
theDuTch '" weight to the diplomacy of the States-General. 
1666, spring. They baffled Charles's ambassador in Swe- 
den, and succeeded in restraining that country from 
joining England ; they formed with Denmark an alliance 
(February 1 1, 1666), by which she bound herself to place 
forty ships at their disposal ; the Elector of Brandenburg 
(February 16, 1666) promised to force the Bishop to make 
peace, and the heads of the House of Brunswick-Liine- 
burg in consequence offered their good will. Heavy 
Bishop of subsidies were paid by the Dutch in each 

makepeace, CaSe - The reSult WaS that the Warlike Bishop 

April, 1666. was compelled (April 1666) to renounce the 
English alliance, and to sign an ignominious peace. 
When the rival fleets again put to sea, in the early 
summer of 1666, England was without an ally. From 
Bergen to Bayonne there was not a friendly port open to 
her ships. 

Six months later (October 27, 1666}, after the campaign 
which has now to be described, these different treaties 
n , , were completed and confirmed by a closer 

Quadruple * . 

Alliance of defensive alliance for ten years between 
Octobef 16 ' the Republic, Denmark, Brandenburg, and 
l666> Brunswick-Liineburg, by which each power 

agreed to assist the others with all its forces in case of 
new aggression. It thus relieved the Republic from her 
dangerous dependence on Louis. And it was the first 



x666. The Dutch War. 141 

sign of that tendency to coalition against France, which 
henceforward is so marked a feature of the politics of 

Europe. 

7. The War, 1666. 

Meantime great events had been passing on the sea. 
On June 1, 1666, the fleets had met off the Dunes, and 
during four days had waged the most terri- Battle of 
ble sea-fight in history. Ruyter and Tromp, J une x - 
with 100 vessels, were confronted by an English fleet 
under Monk, rendered greatly inferior in numbers by the 
necessity of despatching Rupert with twenty vessels to 
meet the French fleet, which Louis, however, who only 
desired to see the two great naval powers destroying one 
another, carefully kept back. The battle raged from 
midday until dusk. Some idea of the slaughter may be 
gathered from the fact that in an English vessel which 
went into action with 300 men but forty were left alive. 
At six next morning the contest was re- Battle of 
newed. The day's fighting went against J unc2 - 
the smaller fleet, and Monk fell back sullenly and in 
perfect order towards the English coast. The next day 
however Rupert rejoined him, and, thus strengthened, 
the English prepared for a third struggle. Ruyter sum- 
moned all his captains to his own vessel, and told them 
that upon the issue of that day depended not only their 
own fate but that of the Republic. Fighting began at 
nine in the morning and lasted with des- Battle of 
peration for six hours, without advantage to J une 4- 
either side. Then Ruyter hoisted the red flag, the signal 
for a general and final effort. With such desperate 
valour was he obeyed that he twice pierced his enemy's 
line. Still it was only after incessant fighting, lasting till 
dusk, that the English gave way ; and so shattered was 
his own fleet that he did not attempt to pursue his advan- 



142 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1666. 

tage. He had lost three vice-admirals, 2,000 men, and 
four ships. On the English side 5,000 men had been 
killed and 3,000 taken prisoners ; eight ships of the line 
had been sunk or burnt, and nine more had remained in 
the hands of the Dutch. 

Almost without the loss of a day each side prepared to 
renew the struggle. The Dutch sailed from the Texel on 
July 4. Before the end of the month an English arma- 
ment, the finest and best equipped that had left her 
shores, sallied from the Thames. On Au- 
August 4, gust 4 Monk and Ruyter met off the Norfolk 

l666 ' coast to try conclusions once more. After 

another long day of carnage the Dutch, this time deci- 
sively beaten, sought safety in confusion in the shallows 
of Zealand. 

The English signalised their mastery by a daring and 
successful act. In the harbour of Flie, at the entrance to 
Destruction the Zuyder Zee, 160 merchant ships were 
merchant riding in apparent safety. A single English 

fleet - frigate, followed by five fire-ships, managed 

to penetrate the narrow passages ; the fire-ships were let 
loose, and the whole fleet, with the exception of nine 
vessels, was destroyed. The loss was estimated at a 
million sterling. 

Internal troubles were at the same time pressing upon 
DeWitt. As misfortunes collected round the Republic, 
Difficulties men's thoughts turned more strongly to the 
Th^Oran'e family under whom the early greatness of 
faction. their country had been achieved. Five 

provinces, with Zealand, the second in influence, at their 
head, now declared for peace, and for the restoration of 
the House of Orange. Even in Holland, De Witt's own 
province, the cause made way. Haarlem and Leyden 
were unanimous for the Prince. It was demanded that 



1667. The Dutch War. 143 

he should be named captain-general of the cavalry, and 
should have a place in the Council of State. Other 
towns urged that the Republic should adopt him as the 
child of the State, and undertake his education lest he 
should grow up in English principles. 

Unable otherwise to nullify the intrigues of the adhe- 
rents of the Prince of Orange, De Witt determined to 
follow this last suggestion. He himself under- The Prince 
took, as Mazarin had formerly done with o{ , 0ran g e 

J adopted by 

Louis, to instruct the Prince in the art of the Republic. 
government. Already the intelligence, power of dis- 
simulation, and persistence of William's character were 
such as to strike an intelligent observer. 

In other respects De Witt was in good hope. Not 
only had his indomitable energy enabled him once more 
to send forth a fleet which in vain challenged Rupert at 
the mouth of the Thames, and thus restored the honour 
of the flag, but he found that England was England 
herself anxious for peace. London was in anxious /or 

r peace, )anu- 

ruins from the Fire. The navy, despite its ar y ^67 
late successes, was in a desperate condition. The state of 
the treasury compelled Charles to retrench his expenses; 
this he did, not by any diminution in the shameless 
extravagance of his pleasures, but by starving the navy 
to such an extent that, although Parliament had made 
another grant of 1,800,000/., England was obliged to act 
strictly on the defensive, the sole office of her war snips, 
as in the days of James I. (see p. 117), being to convey 
the colliers from Newcastle to London. 

From the Scotch came bitter outcries at the strangling 
of their trade, which, owing to the rigorous protection 
laws of England, was almost exclusively with the Dutch. 
Ireland was equally distressed ; while, as for England 
herself, her feelings were shown by the address of the 



144 English Restoration and Louis AW. 1667. 

Speaker on January 18, 1667, who, alluding to the terri- 
ble exhaustion of the kingdom, prayed Charles in the 
name of the people to put an end to this desolating war. 
'Evidently,' says Clarendon, 'the Dutch could endure 
being beaten longer than England could endure to beat 
them.' 

Charles seized the opportunity of returning to his 

natural personal connection with France. In February 

1667 Lord St. Albans was secretly sent to 

SeCret T, . , , , 

engagement Paris to conclude an engagement on the 
Louis XIV. basis that England should enter into no con- 
Charies II nection during 1667 with the house of Austria, 
March 1667. while Louis was to support all Charles's 
interests ' in or out of the kingdom.' The final form 
which this intrigue took — an intrigue kept entirely secret 
from the English ministers, and contained only in auto- 
graph letters from both monarchs to the Queen Mother, 
in whose house the negotiations had taken place — was 
(1) each pledged himself not to enter during a year into 
any alliance contrary to the interests of the other; (2) 
Louis agreed to hold back the fleet with which he had 
promised to help the Dutch ; (3) Charles was to allow 
him a free hand in the Spanish Low Countries. 

8. The Dutch in the Thames. Treaty of Breda. 

Sweden having offered her mediation, a conference 
met in May 1667 at the neutral town of Breda. For a 
Conference at long while it was found impossible to come 
Breda. tQ t erms> Exhausted as both nations were. 

neither had reduced the other sufficiently to gain the 
commercial advantages on which they were bent. It was 
now that De Witt, looking anxiously across the frontier 
to the Spanish Low Countries, into which Louis had 
already marched, determined upon a decisive stroke. 



1667. The Dutch War. 145 

Suddenly, on June 7, when Charles was at a drunken 
revel at the Duchess of Monmouth's, * all mad in hunting 
of a poor moth,' the sound of guns was heard in the 
Thames. It was the Dutch fleet of sixty-one men-of-war, 
which, under Ruyter and John De Witt's brother Corne- 
lius, had come to revenge upon England the insult of 
Flie. Mounting the Thames as far as Gravesend, and 
driving the English vessels before them, The Dutch 
they took Sheerness, sailed as far as Upnor, jg^J 6 
and along the Medway to Rochester, burnt June 7, 1667. 
three English men-of-war, and succeeded in capturing 
the * Royal Charles,' which was taken in triumph to 
Holland. Then Ruyter sailed proudly along our coasts, 
vainly challenging a contest at Harwich, Portsmouth, 
Torbay, Dartmouth, and Plymouth. 

The immediate effect of this daring blow was to extort 
peace. On July 31, 1667, the Treaty of Breda was signed, 
and a month later ratified. Its terms were Treaty of^ 
the terms of a drawn battle. Each nation 31, 1667. 
was to retain all conquests made, both before and during 
the war, up to May 10, 1667, either in territory or ships ; 
and the treaty of 1662 was annulled. The effect of this 
was that England kept New York, and the Dutch 
Surinam and Poleroon. The Act of Navigation was so 
far relaxed that Dutch vessels were allowed to bring 
Dutch, German, and Flemish goods into English ports. 
The salute to English men-of-war in British waters was 
again allowed, but only as a matter of courtesy. The 
treaty of 1662, as far as it regarded commerce, was re- 
newed. Each country was to protect the other against all 
enemies whatsoever. At the same time trea- Treaties 
ties were made by England with France and JJd 
Denmark. France restored St. Christopher, Denmark. 
and gave up Antigua and Montserat. England restored 
K 



146 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1667. 

Acadia, or Nova Scotia. Denmark was admitted to com- 
mercial equality. 

The great struggle for the command of the sea and 
the commerce of the world was over for the time, only 
because the combatants, exhausted and bleeding, needed 
repose. It had decided nothing, and had left behind it 
hatred and mistrust. But hatred and mistrust yield to 
the pressure of a common danger. Even before peace 
was concluded, all eyes had been turned from Breda to 
the victorious march of Louis's armies. The era of 
French aggression in Europe had begun. 



CHAPTER XII. 



DIPLOMACY AND PREPARATIONS OF LOUIS. INVASION 
OF SPANISH NETHERLANDS. 

i. French Treaties with Portugal and the Rhine 
Princes. 
The years of the Dutch war had been on Louis's part 
a time of incessant diplomatic activity in preparation for 
Diplomatists th e great design. Himself distinguished by 
of France. a n ^g qualities which mark a master of 
state-craft, he was served with implicit obedience by a 
corps of the most accomplished diplomats that Europe 
had yet seen. Lionne in Paris, Ruvigny and Colbert in 
London, De Gremonville in Vienna, the Archbishop of 
Embrun in Madrid, Pomponne and D'Estrades in 
Sweden and the United Provinces — these and many like 
them had, except in De Witt, Lisola, and, perhaps, 
Arlington, no rivals. Well might a baffled English envoy 
at Madrid exclaim, ' France has the gift of persuading 
what she pleases here as in the rest of Christendom.' 



1667. Diplomacy and Preparations of Lotas. itf 

By his nominal alliance with the Dutch (p. 120) Louis 
had prevented them from taking measures against an 
aggression which would bring him to their frontier ; and, 
by restraining his own fleet, had prevented them from 
crushing their rival. When England seemed to be pre- 
ponderating, he had on the other hand been instrumental 
in gaining for the Republic, in 1666, the alliances which 
had helped to give her heart for another effort. He had 
secured from Charles, while peace was still pending, a 
secret and personal engagement which assured the 
neutrality of England for a time sufficient for his imme- 
diate purpose. But previously to this he had scored 
against her a brilliant diplomatic success in the Peninsula, 
by counteracting her endeavours to bring about peace 
between Portugal and Spain, and by forcing from the 
former an offensive alliance with himself. By this treaty 
(March 31, 1667) it was agreed that for a Treaty 
heavy subsidy, armed help against Spain, between 

T . , J r 1 • , Portugal 

Louis s guarantee of any treaty she might and France, 
make with Spain after Spain herself had arc ' x 7 " 

made peace with France, and his promise to compel Spain 
to grant the title of King to her ruler, Portugal should 
actively carry on the war, should grant considerable 
commercial advantages to France, and should listen to no 
proposals from Spain until France herself made peace. 
He thus secured a potent source of distraction to Spain 
whenever he might choose to strike his blow. 

Secure of England, the Republic, and Portugal, there 
now remained for Louis only one possible opposition of 
importance to neutralise. From Leopold, Treaties 
chief of the Austrian House, on account of Rhhi? 6 
his near relationship to Spain, the former Princes, 
connection of the countries, and the proximity of the 
Spanish Low Countries to his own dominions, the live- 



148 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1667. 

liest resentment might be expected. The means to 
counteract this difficulty, at any rate for a time, had 
already been provided by Mazarin, in 1658, by the for- 
mation of the Rhine League (see p. 80), which renewed 
its constitution every three years, and was still in exist- 
ence in August 1667. Louis had too in 1664 formed 
separate alliances with the King of Sweden, the Grand 
Elector of Brandenburg, and the Electors of Saxony, and 
Mayence, cemented by large subsidies. He had thus 
made himself in a great measure the arbiter of German 
affairs, and took frequent occasion to assert his position. 
Naturally, however, as, thus fettered, the Emperor 
grew less and less formidable to the Princes of the 
Empire, these bonds had become relaxed. Jealousy of 
France was taking the place of jealousy of the Emperor, 
and in 1667 it seemed doubtful whether another pro- 
longation of three years of the Rhine League would be 
secured. Louis, therefore, at once (Oct. 28, 1667) made 
secretly at a heavy cost fresh alliances with the Princes 
along the Rhine, the Electors of Mayence and Cologne, 
the Duke of Neuburg, and the Bishop of Munster, by 
which they engaged to refuse a passage to Austrian 
troops. At the same time he stirred up disaffection 
among the Emperor's discontented subjects in Hungary, 
hoping thus to distract his attention, as in the case of 
Spain he had done by the help of Portugal. 

2. Invasion of the Low Countries. 
Never did a fairer prospect present itself to an ambi- 
tious monarch. France was at this moment beyond 
Readiness comparison the best administered country in 
of Louis. Europe. The wounds of the Fronde had 

been healed, and all classes seemed in contentment. 
The energy and determination of Louis himself were 



1667. Invasion of Spanish Netherlands. 149 

ably seconded by the devotion of the great administrators 
who had learned their trade from Mazarin. Colbert and 
Colbert had removed abuses and reorganised finance, 
finance with such success that Louis found himself in 
1667 not merely free from debt, but with an easily col- 
lected revenue of more than thirty-one millions of livres 
beyond what had been with difficulty wrung Lionne and 
from the people at the death of Mazarin. the navy. 
Lionne had restored the navy, which Mazarin had per- 
mitted to rot away. In 1661 the royal dockyards had 
contained eighteen weatherworn vessels, scantily armed 
and manned. In 1667 France possessed a fleet of no 
well-built and amply-equipped ships, carrying 3,730 guns, 
and manned by 21,915 men, exclusive of officers. 

The army was superb. No fewer than 1 50,000 men, 
officered by the veterans of the Fronde, were in constant 
drill, field practice, and garrison duty. The utmost atten- 
tion had been given by the war minister, Louvois, to rais- 
ing the infantry, hitherto the weakest arm, Louvois and 
to the standard of the unequalled cavalry, the army - 
and every inducement had been offered the noblesse to 
join its ranks. In the provinces near the Spanish Low 
Countries Louis had massed 50,000 of his best troops, 
while the whole country was covered with camps and 
arsenals. ' The best means,' he says himself, ' I thought, 
of doing something of importance was to surprise my 
enemies by my diligence, and by entering their country 
in arms before they should be ready to resist me. I 
therefore got everything ready much sooner than was 
customary. I collected everywhere corn, meal, fodder, 
powder, bullets, guns, and everything the lack of which 
might have delayed the march of my army. But particu- 
larly I kept carefully exercising the troops immediately 
about my person, in order that from my example the 



150 English Restoration and Lonis XIV. 1667. 

other leaders might learn to take the same care of those 
of whom they had the command.' 

A strong contrast to mis energy was afforded by his 
enemies. In spite of urgent warnings from the governors 
of the Spanish Low Countries and Franche Comte, the 
Unreadiness court of Madrid, sunk in lethargy, made no 
of Spam. preparations. At the moment when the 

troops selected to accompany Louis on his march were 
passing before him in review, the Spanish ministers were 
congratulating themselves on his deceptive assurances 
of peace. A few days later their eyes were opened by 
receiving from him, in a lengthy volume entitled the 
' Livre des Droits,' a statement of his immediate claim 
on the Spanish Low Countries, and the suggestion of the 
_. , T . future claim to the whole monarchv. Its 

The ' Livre J 

des Droits' arguments, which were answered by Lisola, 
lierd'Etatet Austrian ambassador at London and the 
de justice.' Hague, in ' Le Bouclier d'£tat et de Justice,' 
were thus summed up : ' France claims the Spanish Low 
Countries by the right of marriage ; Spain owns them in 
right of blood ; the provinces themselves owe allegiance 
in virtue of their customs. The Queen of France is wife 
of the first, sister of the second, and sovereign of the 
third.' A few days later Louis forwarded this statement 
to the various courts of Europe. He presented his enter- 
prise not as a war — war indeed was not declared — but as a 
mere entering into possession of his wife's inheritance. He 
was going, he said, to travel 'in the Spanish Low Countries. 
There was no further delay. On May 24, 1667, Louis 
r . and Turenne crossed the frontier. Castel 

Louis over- 
runs the Rodrigo, with a total force of 20,000 men 

south of the . . . . - r ■ r 

Spanish Low scattered in garrisons in towns whose fortmca- 
Lountnes. tions were out of repair, could make no resist- 
ance. Binch was taken on the 31st, Charleroi on June 2. 



1667. invasion of Spanish Netherlands. 151 

By the 18th Ath, Tournai, Douai, Courtrai, Oudenarde 
were in French hands. In less than two months the whole 
south of the Spanish Low Countries was at Louis's feet. 

3. Treaty of Eventual Partition of the Spanish 
Monarchy with Leopold. 

Spain could not dream of effective resistance to Louis. 
Her only hope was from outside. She speedily found 
that from England nothing was to be expected, though 
she was still ignorant of Charles's secret engagement 
with Louis. Taking advantage however of the revolu- 
tion in Portugal of November 1667, which had over- 
thrown Don Pedro and placed his brother Alphonso on 
the throne, and which had thus rendered the Spain recog- 
alliance with Louis of no effect, she made a dependence 
peace with that country, recognising her at of Portugal, 
length as an independent kingdom. She 1668. 
then turned to Leopold. The Spanish Low Countries, 
forming part of the ' circle ' of Burgundy, one of the ten 
' circles ' into which, for certain administra- Applies to 
tive and financial purposes the Empire was Leopold, 
divided, was, as such, nominally under the protection of 
the Empire, and Spain claimed a fulfilment of this duty. 
But at the Peace of Westphalia the Empire had agreed to 
give no assistance to Spain during her war with France, 
and in 1658 Leopold had renewed the engagement on his 
own account. Louis now took every step in his power to 
secure the continued fulfilment of these promises. 

His ambassador at Vienna, De Gremonville, perhaps 
the ablest of his diplomatists, had the charge of manag- 
ing the Emperor. He so completely sue- De Gremon- 
ceeded in his task that even when Turenne vine secures 

the Emperor's 

had captured Lille (August 27, 1667), hitherto inactivity. 
deemed impregnable, and had routed the Spanish force 



152 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1667. 

sent against him ; and when Leopold, in consternation, 
had yielded to the pressure from Madrid and ordered 
large levies of troops, by taking the high hand he actually 
compelled the Emperor to countermand his own orders. 
Not a man was enlisted, and Louis, thus freed from anx- 
iety, was able at the end of September to put his army 
into winter quarters, and return from his victorious pro- 
gress to his capital. 

With the Diet of Ratisbon Louis was- equally success- 
ful. Publicly he assured the Princes that he would hold 
his conquests in the Spanish Low Countries on the same 
terms relatively to them and to the Emperor as those 
TheDietof upon which Spain had held them. Pri- 
Sfules°to vately he appealed to individual members 

oppose Louis, by profuse bribery ; and he fomented the 

October 1667. ,. . . , . , . ' * . 

divisions which already existed among them. 
In October 1667 the Diet resolved to confine its action to 
mediation, and to let the claim to protection of the * circle ' 
lapse. In one respect only Louis failed. He was unable 
to secure another term of three years' continuance of the 
Rhine League. 

With the two great Protestant powers of the north, 
Brandenburg and Sweden, he dealt separately. Firm 
Branden- allies of France as their jealousy of the 

burg and Emperor had made them, they began now 

promise to be alarmed rather at the prospect of an 

neutrality. indefinite extension of French influence ; 
and their anxiety was increased by the endeavours of 
Louis to secure the Polish succession, likely soon to be- 
come vacant by the abdication of John Casimir, for a 
Prince of the French blood. Louis, to whom Poland was 
merely one of the counters with which he played the 
game, at once changed his tone. To secure the co-opera- 
tion of Brandenburg he not only withdrew his own claim, 



1667. Invasion of Spanish Netherlands. 153 

but promised to support the election of the Grand Elec- 
tor's relative, the Duke of Neuburg. Won by this prom- 
ise, by a generous subsidy, and by the engagement of 
Louis to be moderate in his claims in the Spanish Low- 
Countries, and persuaded by their ministers, who, down 
to the secretaries who wrote the draft, had their pockets 
filled with French gold, both the Grand Elector and the 
Duke agreed to preserve a strict neutrality and to refuse 
a passage to the Emperor's troops. Sweden was treated 
with less ceremony. By the force of plain threats she 
also was induced to remain neutral. The arrogant spirit 
of the French is shown by Lionne's boast that in case 
France had any trouble from her she should be speedily 
' sent back into her forests.' 

Louis had thus taken all indirect precautions against 
Leopold intervening in the struggle. He now made use 
of arguments still more convincing. With- Suggestion 
out feint or reticence he laid before the J f a rtT5on^f 
Emperor a project which, by its straight- JJ* n |P*J ish 
forward appeal to his selfishness, might October 1667. 
induce him to break through those family and dynastic 
interests which at present prevented his cordial alliance 
with an enemy of Spain. This was no less than a 
scheme of the partition of the whole Spanish monarchy 
between Louis and himself should Charles II. of Spain 
die childless. Already, in the beginning of 1667, the 
idea had been mentioned tentatively ; and the negotia- 
tions were resumed with the utmost secrecy in October. 
So well was that secrecy maintained that not until a few 
years ago was the existence of this intrigue and of the 
treaty which resulted from it known to the world. 

Between the first and second attempts Louis had 
ascertained the conditions upon which the Dutch would 
support him in coming to terms with Spain. They agreed 



154 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1668. 

that Louis should hold Franche Comte, Cambrai and the 
Cambresis, Douai (with the fort of Scarpe), 

Agreement . v r ' 

of Louis and Aire, St. Omer, Furnes, and Bergues, with 
The 'alter- their dependances or districts; and that 
natives.' Charleroi should be dismantled; or, as an 

alternative, that he should retain what he had already 
conquered. Louis now placed these conditions before 
Leopold, along with the enticing project of partition. 
By flattery of the Emperor and his ministers, 
eventual by first proposing exorbitant terms, and then, 

partition, . .... . 

January 19, as great concessions, withdrawing those 
l668, which had no importance for France; by 

every device, indeed, known to diplomacy, even to down- 
right lying, De Gremonville at length brought about an 
agreement. If Spain should refuse to make peace with 
France on the suggested conditions, the Emperor would 
not help her, provided Louis did not push his conquests 
further. In no case would France or Austria attack each 
other in their own dominions. The eventual division of 
the Spanish monarchy was then regulated. The Emperor 
was to have Spain itself, except Navarre and Rosas; the 
West Indies; Milan and the right of investiture to the 
duchy of Siena ; and all the Spanish ports on the Sea of 
Tuscany up to the frontiers of Naples ; while Louis was 
to take the Low Countries and Franche Comte ; the 
Eastern Philippines; Navarre and Rosas; all Spanish 
possessions in Africa ; with Naples and Sicily, except as 
before arranged. Each power was to help the other to 
overcome resistance on the part of its new subjects; 
local rights were to be disregarded ; the agreement was 
not to lapse until any child that might be born to Charles 
was six months old ; and the treaties of Westphalia and 
the Pyrenees were meanwhile to remain in full force. 



1663. The Fall of Clarendon. 155 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE FALL OF CLARENDON. 

While Louis XIV., absolute ruler of a great kingdom, 
was thus giving the law to Europe, Charles II. of England 
was every day realising more clearly how narrow were 
the limits of his own freedom. His Parliament had been 
showing itself imbued with precisely the same views as 
the Long Parliament of his father, except that, whereas 
that had been Puritan, this was Anglican. Its enemies 
were the same — Popery, military force.and an ^ 

1 J J Temper of 

uncontrolled use of the purse by the Crown. the Parlia- 
Upon all three points the action of Charles 
had excited bitter suspicion and discontent. It was 
through that suspicion and discontent, aided by many 
collateral causes, and most of all by the base desertion 
of the King, a desertion less notorious than his father's 
desertion of Strafford only because the circumstances 
were less tragic and the personages less grandiose, that 
Clarendon was now struck down. 

The leading causes of his fall are easily discernible, 
though, from the many purely personal questions which 
were involved, it is impossible to give to each its just 
value. In 1662 he had risked the King's favour by op- 
posing the Declaration of Indulgence. In 1663 his 
personal enemy, the Catholic Earl of Bristol, made an 
ill-advised attempt to secure his impeachment for high 
treason. But the charges were utterly frivolous; 
Charles gave no countenance to the proceeding ; Bristol, 
as the King prophesied, only ' burnt his wings,' and 
Clarendon remained the stronger for the attack. He was 



156 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1666. 

however surrounded by enemies. Lady Castlemaine, 
the most vulgar and abandoned of the women who 
governed Charles, hated him with the hatred of disap- 
pointed vanity and avarice. Not only had Clarendon 
Clarendon's steadfastly declined to court her favour — 
enemies. h e W ould not even permit his wife to visit 

her — but he had frequently refused to pass grants for her 
from the King. It was at her house that those nightly 
meetings were held at which a knot of young political 
adventurers, to whose rise the all-absorbing power of the 
Chancellor was an obstacle, met to plan his overthrow. 
Ashley, Lauderdale, William Coventry, and Henry 
Bennet, better known as the Earl of Arlington, whom 
Clarendon had himself introduced to public life, and who 
was now Secretary of State in the place of Nicholas, had 
each his reasons for wishing his fall. The disappointed 
cavaliers owed him a deep grudge for the Indemnity Bill 
and the Bill of Sales ; the Catholics saw in him the repre- 
sentative of Anglicanism ; the Presbyterians and other 
dissenting sects laid their persecution at his door. He 
was disliked by the courtiers for the reproach which the 
decency of his private life cast upon their excesses. His 
daughter's marriage with the presumptive heir to the 
throne roused the jealousy of the nobility; while the 
arrogance of his demeanour and his display of wealth 
alienated the citizens of London. It was not least to his 
disadvantage that the gravity of his deportment lent 
itself to Buckingham's ready wit and mimicry. The 
Bishops alone were his steadfast friends. 

It was not until 1666 that grave political events placed 
him in direct antagonism to the Parliament. The inces- 
sant drain of money for the expenses at once of the 
Dutch war and of the King's pleasures was gradually ex- 
asperating the Commons. They had with enthusiasm 



1 666. The Fall of Clarendon. 157 

voted an enormous supply in 1664, and had followed this, 
in 1665, with another of half the amount. Even then 
Charles had been compelled to accept a He opposes 
proviso, suggested by suspicion of waste, uorTof na ~ 
that the money should be applied strictly supplies, 
to the war. As in the Parliament of Charles I. the 
doctrine had been established that taxation could not be 
raised without the consent of Parliament, so now was 
established the equally important doctrine that neither 
could it be spent without that consent. Clarendon's view 
of the constitution, despite the lessons of the last twenty 
years, was precisely the same as it had been when he 
served Charles I. : ' The King was to work in combina- 
tion with his Parliament; but he was not to allow the 
House of Commons to force its will upon the House of 
Lords ; still less was he to allow both Houses combined 
to compel him to give the royal assent to bills of which 
his conscience disapproved.' He now incurred the dis- 
pleasure of both the King and the Commons by vehe- 
mently inveighing against this proviso as derogatory to 
the Crown. 

When however in September 1666 Charles demanded 
yet another supply, the country gentlemen, upon whom 
the weight of taxation chiefly rested, and who were 
scandalised at the excesses of the court in which they 
did not participate, determined, while offering a sum of 
.1,800,000/., to frame further safeguards. Avoiding a 
direct attack upon the King, they declared their belief 
that he had been cheated by the officials, and demanded 
a public inspection of accounts. They ap- Opposes 
pointed a committee to examine all persons Government 
who could give information on the subject, expenditure. 
and they introduced a bill to nominate Parliamentary 
commissioners to investigate expenditure and punish de- 



158 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1666. 

faulters. Charles, anxious only for the money, did not 
oppose the action of the Commons. Clarendon however 
again stood between them and their desires. He declared 
that they had exceeded their proper functions, that this 
was ' a new encroachment as had no bottom,' an uncon- 
stitutional expansion of their privileges, and that 'the 
scars were yet too fresh and green of those wounds which 
had been inflicted upon the kingdom from such usurpa- 
tions.' He openly expressed his determination to oppose 
the bill to the utmost of his power when it came before 
the Lords, and he urged Charles to refuse his sanction 
even if the Lords permitted it to pass. The further pro- 
gress of the measure was stayed by a prorogation, and 
before the next session Clarendon had fallen. The bill 
of the Commons was then passed. Commissioners were 
appointed who were members of neither House, and by 
their investigation shameful disorganisation and pecula- 
tion on a gigantic scale were brought to light. 

But Clarendon had taken a step which brought him 
Proposes a st ^l more directly into conflict with Parlia- 
dissoiution. ment. He saw that the Government and 
the Commons were in constant antagonism. He therefore 
pressed the King to have recourse to a dissolution, the 
constitutional method of getting rid of such a difficulty. 
His advice was not followed, for Charles felt that the 
present House contained a far larger number of his 
personal adherents and of the court officials than were 
ever likely to find seats again, and the bishops represented 
the danger of the possible election of many Presby- 
terians. The mere proposal however further increased 
the excitement against Clarendon. 

Greater still was the jealousy caused in all classes by 
another suggestion, perhaps the only one for which 
Clarendon can be justly blamed. How far Charles was 



1667. The Fall of Clarendon. 159 

at the time endeavouring to realise his long-cherished 
desire of creating a standing army is doubtful. It is how- 
ever certain that, on pretence of guarding the suggests 
coasts after the Chatham disaster, troops were tnSTb" 8 
now raised without any reference to Parlia- forced con- 

, . .. tributions. 

ment. They were collected and equipped 
by some of the great nobility at their own cost, but 
their maintenance had to be provided for, and the 
exchequer was empty. Though Parliament stood pro- 
rogued, Charles determined to summon it at once. This 
resolve was opposed by Clarendon on the formal ground 
that it was unconstitutional to summon a prorogued 
Parliament before the day named for its meeting ; and 
to get over the difficulty he suggested that without waiting 
for Parliamentary sanction royal letters should be sent 
to the Lord-lieutenants and deputy-lieutenants of the 
counties in which the troops were raised, authorising 
them to call in provisions, while the other counties should 
pay a proportionate subscription. That he honestly 
believed this to be within the lines of the constitution is 
clear, and nothing could more strongly prove how igno- 
rant he was of the effect upon the English mind of 
Cromwell's government by standing armies. The effect 
was immediate. At the meeting of Parliament in July, 
1667, the Commons unanimously voted an address pray- 
ing the King to disband the newly raised troops. His 
reply was to rally them on their suspicion that he should 
dream of wishing for a standing army, and once more, 
for reasons which are very obscure, to prorogue them. 
This prorogation, too, was laid to Clarendon's advice. 

It became certain that whenever Parliament should 
reassemble Clarendon would be impeached. Among the 
bishops alone could he look for support. Charles him- 
self, while treating him with personal kindness, displayed 



160 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1667. 

the cool ingratitude of his race to the man to whom he 
largely owed his peaceful and triumphant restoration. 
Ingratitude He had indeed many causes of irritation 
of Charles. aga i nst Clarendon. The Chancellor had 
opposed his wish for toleration, had not spared the 
most outspoken remonstrances upon the idle debauchery 
of his life, and had thwarted him in at least one disgrace- 
ful intrigue. He was tired of hearing on every side that so 
long as his minister was in power he was but half a King. 
Finally — and this was with Charles throughout life the 
most potent argument — it was easier, in the presence of 
popular clamour, to abandon than to support him. Just as 
in later years, when consenting to the judicial murder of 
Archbishop Plunket, Charles was not ashamed to exclaim, 
' I cannot save him because I dare not,' so now he was 
heard. to say, 'My own condition is such that I cannot 
dispute with them.' On August 30, 1667 after a vain en- 
deavour to induce Clarendon to resign, he sent him, ill as 
he was at the time, and mourning the death of his wife, 
orders to deliver up the Great Seal. He was rewarded 
by receiving the assurance of May, Lady Castlemaine's 
secretary, that ' he was now King, which he had never 
been before.' 

Personal dislike, unscrupulous attack, the virtues far 
more than the weaknesses of his private character, the 
disasters of the nation — the odium for which fell, as always, 
upon the most prominent figure in the kingdom — and the 
ingratitude of Charles, had all much to do with Claren- 
don's disgrace. But the main cause is to be sought in the 
inherent weakness of his political theory. He did not 
, , instinctively feel, and therefore could not 

Clarendon s J 

weakness as guide, as Pym had guided, and Shaftesbury 
a po ' 1C W as to some extent to guide, the desires of 

his generation. He was purely a constitutional lawyer, 



1667. The Fall of Clarendon. 161 

with views of the constitution which he thought beyond 
argument or improvement. His sole guide was the law, 
as he understood it. He had opposed Laud and the Star 
Chamber because they were above the law, and he had 
opposed Parliaments when they acted against the law. He 
endeavoured to secure a clause in an Act of Parliament to 
grant the King a dispensing power ; but he objected to the 
King's use of that power without Parliamentary sanction 
as an illegal extension of the prerogative ; just as he ob- 
jected to the claim for appropriation of supplies and the 
inspection of accounts as an illegal extension of Parlia- 
mentary privilege. These essentially negative views had 
not stood in the way, had rather been advantageous, at 
the Restoration itself. They had indeed then taken a 
positive aspect ; for Clarendon's business was to restore 
the old Parliamentary monarchy in strict connection with 
the old Anglican Church, to come back to the broad lines 
of a constitution which he loved. For such a task his 
firmness, integrity, knowledge of constitutional law, and 
love of business, fitted him beyond any man of his time. 
But, that task once finished, the weakness of a position 
based upon negations showed itself. He had neither the 
keenness to discern a coming change nor the elasticity of 
mind to adapt himself to it when it came. Had he been 
able to place himself at the head of the current of popular 
opinion he might have died prime minister of England, 
for his usefulness was incontestable. As it was he stood 
in its way, and was swept aside to make room for more 
supple men. 

It is possible that Charles had hoped that by his action 
he might save his old servant from further attack. But 
he had misunderstood the temper of Parliament. Every- 
thing that had gone wrong during Clarendon's adminis- 
tration was laid to his initiative — the sale of Dunkirk. 

L 



1 62 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1667. 

the entering upon the Dutch war, the disaster at Chatham, 
the waste of public money. When the Commons met on 
Pro osed October 10, 1667, they at once voted an im- 

lmpeach- peachment. It was as extravagant as might 

flight', Nov. have been expected. Of all the articles, 
29, 1667. one Qn Yy — j-j^j. - n ^r^h h e was accused of 

promoting a standing army, the dissolution of Parliament, 
and the supporting troops upon forced contributions — had 
even plausibility. Conscious of the weakness of their 
case, they applied, but in vain, to the Lords to commit 
Clarendon on a general charge of treason. Clarendon 
hesitated long what course to pursue. Hearing however 
that Charles had ' wondered why he did not withdraw 
himself,' he determined to take the hint, which indeed 
soon became a positive command ; and on November 29 
he fled to France, leaving Parliament to the barren ven- 
gence of passing an Act banishing him forever, to which 
Charles was forced to consent. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE AND PEACE OF AIX-LA- 
CHAPELLE. 

i. Various Projects of Charles. 
Underlying the other causes of the Parliamentary 
attack upon Clarendon had been the conviction that he 

was directing English policy in the French 
jealousy interest. It was this jealousy of the French 

power, the jealousy of the nation as distinct 
from the King, which now led to the formation of a great 
European coalition against Louis. 

The project of a close alliance between England and 



1667. The Triple Alliance. 163 

the Republic had been discussed even before the close of 
the late war. It first took shape in the mind 
of Sir William Temple, an intimate friend Dutch 
of De Witt, and the most cultured of English |ir wT" 
diplomatists. He had fretted under the sue- Se^ pl i66 
cess of Louis in fostering a war whereby the 
two great naval and Protestant powers destroyed one 
another's strength, and he longed to repay him in kind. 
De Witt had listened to his proposals readily. The sole 
object of the Grand Pensionary was to stay the approach 
of France towards the Dutch frontier, and he had tried 
in vain to induce Louis to pledge ^imself to hold his 
hand. He had, too, reason to hope that Sweden, sore at 
Lionne's arrogance, would throw in her lot with that of the 
two other Protestant powers. His agent in London was 
therefore directed to work upon the fears of Charles by 
declaring that if England did not join the Republic the 
Dutch would be driven to a close alliance with Louis, and 
upon his pride by putting before him the headship of a 
great Protestant coalition. At the same time he tried to 
bring Louis to terms by letting him know that on the one 
hand he was treating directly with Castel Rodrigo, and 
on the other had good hopes of a league with Austria, 
Sweden, and England. The implied threat drew from 
Louis nothing but a curt and angry reply. 

The focus of diplomatic intrigue was now transferred 
to London Ruvigny, the French ambassador, a per- 
sonal friend of Clarendon, was despatched Contestof 
to England in the utmost haste, well fur- French, 
nished with funds to enforce his arguments, Spaniards 
and with instructions to renew to Charles English 
himself the promise of French help against alliance, 
his own subjects. Before however he reached London, 
Clarendon had fallen, and he had to deal with Buck- 



164 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1667. 

ingham and Arlington, between whom the power which 
the Chancellor had left behind was now divided. 

He was received with perfect frankness. Charles 
expressed the warmest personal regard for Louis, but 
declared that Parliament would never consent to an alli- 
ance with France ; and among all whom Ruvigny ap- 
proached he found the conviction that England would not 
stand idle while France was taking the whole of the 
Spanish Low Countries. Louis, on receiving Ruvigny's 
report, showed the liveliest anxiety. To soothe the Par- 
liamentary opposition, rendered keener by the news that 
Clarendon had landed in France, he forbade the fallen 
minister to come to Paris. He instructed Ruvigny to 
press upon Charles the shame of being a slave to his 
Parliament, and the prospect of avenging the insult at 
Chatham. Concealing the fact that he was at the 
moment in active negotiation with De Witt, Charles re- 
plied by hinting at generous offers from Spain. A large 
supply of ready money, a part of the French conquests in 
the Spanish Low Countries, and important commercial 
advantages might, however, move him. Louis at once 
(October) instructed Ruvigny to promise the money 
Louis's demanded, increased facilities for trade with 

offers. France and the Spanish Low Countries and 

French aid in ships and money to conquer the Spanish 
possessions in the West Indies. The question of places 
in the Spanish Low Countries was, however, waived. 

The diplomatic contest between France and the 

Republic was accentuated by the personal rivalry of 

Buckingham and Arlington. The former, 

Arlington a yain man> devoid alike of principle and 

Bucking- political insight, was wholly in the French 

ham. r ° J 

interest ; he hoped to receive the command 
of an English contingent in the service of Louis. 



1667. The Triple Alliance. 165 

Arlington, equally vain and unscrupulous, had succeeded 
to the principal direction of foreign affairs by his evident 
capacity for business and coolness of judgment. He 
may indeed be regarded almost as a statesman of the 
first rank. It was greatly in his favour that he was the 
only one of Charles's ministers with a knowledge of 
European languages sufficient to enable him to converse 
easily with foreign ambassadors. He perfectly under- 
stood the temper of the English people ; and, having 
married a lady from Holland, was inclined to the Dutch 
rather than the French connection. The opportunity 
now offered him of thwarting Buckingham tended in 
the same direction. While therefore engaged, in apparent 
concert with the latter, in preliminaries with Ruvigny 
which he had no intention of seriously pursuing, he at 
the same moment busied himself, with Charles's sanction, 
but without Buckingham's knowledge, in direct and seri- 
ous negotiations with De Witt. 

In pursuance of this policy, terms were placed before 
Louis in December of a nature likely to insure their 
rejection. Louis in return sent the draft of a treaty 
equally distasteful to the English Government. Charles 
hereupon asserted that England was so exhausted by 
the late war that repose was absolutely Re j ectiono f 
necessary, and that he was therefore deter- French 

- . ,. alliance. 

mined upon a course of strict neutrality. 
Louis was compelled to hide his irritation at this, the first 
serious check to his diplomatic success, by proclaiming 
that such neutrality was really more to his interest than 
war, inasmuch as the Dutch, no longer fearing the union 
of England and France, would lay aside much of their 
jealousy with respect to his movements. Privately, how- 
ever, he expressed profound disappointment. 

It is a lively illustration of the political morality of the 



1 66 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1668. 

time, that simultaneously with these negotiations Charles 
Proposals to was °^ erm S to Spain too his active alliance. 
Spain His terms were, as always, ready money and 

rejected. • tt j j j 

commercial expansion. He demanded a 
heavy subsidy, permission to send a fixed number of 
ships for unrestricted trade to Buenos Ayres and the 
Philippines ; privileges in Antwerp, which was again to 
become the rival of Amsterdam ; and, through the exer- 
cise of Spanish influence, free trade with the Hanse 
towns. Both the poverty and the pride of Spain stood in 
the way of the acceptance of such terms. 

2. The Triple Alliance. 

Nothing therefore now remained, if England was to 
■lake action at all, but the acceptance of the union with 
Charles de- the Republic proposed by De Witt, to com- 
Dutch 63 ° n P e l Louis to bind himself to one or other of 
alliance. ^^ 'alternatives' (see p. 154) ; and to this, 

under Arlington's influence, Charles now found decisive 
/easons for turning. Most of all, the hope that such an 
alliance might put to rest the increasing clamour of Par- 
liament was an argument which influenced a King who 
habitually acted along the line of least resistance. Early 
in January 1668 Temple was sent off in haste to the 
Hague. 

Two difficulties threatened to retard the conclusion of 
ihe alliance. De Witt had dealt a severe blow to the 
Difficulties Orange faction, and had offended Charles, 
^voided. by obtaining the perpetual separation of the 

atadtholdership from the command of the land and sea 
forces. To this he wished for Charles's acquiescence, 
and he now secured this acquiescence by affecting to 
hang back from the treaty, on which the King was for 
the moment bent. The other difficulty was that, while 



i668. The Triple Alliance. 167 

haste and secrecy were of the last necessity, the peculiar 
constitution of the Dutch government, which required the 
sanction of all treaties by the Provincial Estates, rendered 
haste and secrecy impossible. It happened however that 
during the late war the Provincial Estates had for urgency 
delegated their power to a commission of eight members, 
which was still undissolved. To this body the business 
was referred, and upon their agreement the treaty was at 
once ratified by the States General. Temple thus com- 
pletely outwitted d'Estrades, the French ambassador at 
the Hague, who reported to Lionne that some arrange- 
ment was in the wind, but that it would be easy to secure 
its defeat when brought, as the constitution demanded, 
before the Provincial Estates. 

On January 13, 1668, Temple succeeded in concluding 
three separate treaties. By the first each power was 
bound to assist the other, if attacked in Eu- The alliance 
rope, with forty ships of the line, 6,000 andth e and 
infantry, and 400 cavalry. By the second Republic, 

J ^ J J January 13, 

they were to endeavour to restore peace be- ^s. 
tween France and Spain on the basis of the ' alternatives,' 
to obtain from Louis a cessation of arms until the end of 
May, to guarantee the cession by Spain of the places to 
which he would become entitled, and finally to induce 
him, under this guarantee, to renounce further conquests 
in the Spanish Low Countries, even if force should be 
found necessary to compel Spain to observe the agree- 
ment. 

In these two treaties all sign of menace to Louis had 
been sedulously avoided. The third, which was strictly 
secret, was of a different character. It pro- The secret 
vided that whichever of the parties refused treat y- 
to consent to the 'alternatives,' force should be used to 
compel her to accept peace. If France were recalcitrant, 



168 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1668. 

the war upon her should not cease until she had been 
reduced to the limits imposed by the Peace of the 
Pyrenees. No protest was made against the future claim 
of Louis to the Spanish monarchy, and it was doubtless 
hoped that since the conditions of peace were those pro- 
posed by Louis himself, the secret article would never be 
called into play. 

To this treaty Sweden gave her adhesion in April, 
conditionally upon obtaining from Spain the payments to 
„ ,. . , which she laid claim. Such however was 

Conditional 

accession of the poverty of Spain that she was unable 
to find the money, and the difficulty was got 
over only by England and the Republic guaranteeing the 
payment at a future time. The signature of Sweden was 
affixed on May 15. The treaty has thus become known 
as the Triple Alliance. 

Important as the Triple Alliance was, both in its 
immediate effects, and as the first formal expression 
of European resistance to the aggressions of Louis, it 
„ , , was, so far as Charles was concerned, a 

Charles s . ' 

view of the piece of gross political knavery. His hopes 
were in reality steadily fixed on France, and 
on the day after the treaty was signed he wrote both to 
his sister Henrietta, who was in the confidence of Louis, 
and to Louis himself, to explain his action as forced 
upon him by his subjects. He had^ too the special 
meanness to declare that it was the Dutch and not he 
who had proposed and pressed the matter forward. By 
the secret treaty he had cleverly and fatally compromised 
the Dutch in the eyes of Louis, and had thus secured 
their isolation if ever he should himself desire to attack 
them again. 



1 668. Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 169 

3. Peace of Aix-la Chapelle. 

In the face of this coalition Louis might well pause in 
his career. The peace which Portugal had made with 
Spain naturally tended in the same direction, Effect of 
since it set free to fight in the Spanish Nether- Aliianceon 
lands whatever forces Spain still possessed. Louis - 
The three events — the Partition Treaty, the Triple Alii, 
ance, and the peace of Portugal with Spain — now brougm 
about a short period of repose for Europe. 

But Louis had meanwhile had time to strike another 
blow. On the mediation of the Pope he had, in Sep- 
tember 1667, granted a truce of three months. At its 
conclusion, in January 1668, the Diet asked for a further 
period of three months during which terms might be 
arranged ; but Louis, while consenting to keep open the 
negotiations, refused a suspension of arms. The confi- 
dence of Castel Rodrigo, who declared that Nature her- 
self would enforce a suspension, incited him to an un- 
expected enterprise. Winter campaigns had been till 
then almost unknown in European warfare. But Louis 
broke through the general practice. He determined to 
overrun Franche Comte, which lay temptingly open to 
attack. 

His preparations were rapidly made. A corps of 
15,000 men was placed under the command of Conde. 
On the 2d, after sending notice of his intention to 
all the European powers, he left St. Germain. In a 
fortnight all was over The Spaniards could oppose 
only 12,000 disorganised troops to Conde's corps d 'elite ; 
and by the 19th, before Europe had recov- 

1 • 111 Conquest of 

ered from her surprise, the only places Franche 
capable of offering resistance were in Louis's 
hands. He now received from the English and Dutch 
envoys the formal announcement of the Triple Alliance. 



170 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1668. 

Their communication was couched in terms of studied 
compliment, the whole stress being laid upon the in- 
tended compulsion of Spain. In accordance with the 
treaty they asked for a suspension of arms until the end 
of May. 

To this Louis replied that Spain, by making peace 
with Portugal, showed her intention of continuing the 
war and that to grant the suspension demanded would 
merely give her three months in which to strengthen 
herself, while he, with 100,000 men ready to march, 
Louis had to stand by with folded arms. To show 

fermsof^the k' s anxiety to satisfy Europe however, he 
Triple would hold his hand until May 16, upon an 

Alliance . , 

condition- undertaking that the ratifications of the treaty 

with Spain on the basis of the ' alternatives ' 
were exchanged by that date, and would even give back 
to Spain all he might have taken since March 31, the 
date he had originally offered for the conclusion of an 
arrangement. 

This decision was arrived at only after long consider- 
ation. In the unprepared condition of the other powers, 
no less than in his own readiness for attack, in the 
advice of Conde and Turenne, and in the feeling of Paris, 
where the warlike spirit was so strong that it was ' a 
mortal sin even to mention peace,' Louis had every 
temptation to immediate war. Moreover he had, through 

the treachery of Charles, learned with ex- 
His reasons. ..... 

cessive indignation of the secret provisions 
of the Triple Alliance. Other considerations however 
prevailed. The necessity of garrisoning any towns he 
might capture would enfeeble his army ; while a general 
European coalition would probably at once follow any 
further attack. War would but consolidate the Triple 
Alliance, which was sure before long, if he were mode- 



1668. Peace of Aix- la- Chape lie. 171 

rate, to fall asunder by its own weight. Franche Comte 
could be rendered powerless before he gave it up ; and 
the towns which he already possessed in the Spanish 
Low Countries would place the rest at his mercy when a 
more favourable moment should arrive. 

He therefore, on April 15, 1668, agreed to the follow- 
ing terms. Up to May 31 he would accept whichever of 
the ' alternatives ' Spain might choose. Dur- 
ing the next two months he should raise his Aix-ia-Cha- 
terms. To the first ' alternative * (see p. 1 54) pe e ' 
he should add the possession of Luxemburg, or Lille and 
Tournai ; to the second, that of Franche Comte, Cambrai, 
and the Cambresis. Should nothing have been settled 
by the end of July, the whole question would be open 
to revision. England and the Republic bound them- 
selves meanwhile to attack Spain after May 31 should 
she refuse to concur, reserving for their action the 
north-eastern, while he dealt with the south-western 
portion of the still unoccupied part of the Spanish 
Low Countries. 

Without resources or prospects of efficient help, Castel 
Rodrigo at length gave way ; though the pride, dilatori- 
ness, and formality of the court of Madrid so effectually 
seconded his reluctance that it was not until May 29 that 
the treaty was finally concluded. Looking more to a 
future war with France than to the present peace, he 
decided to accept the second ' alternative,' since the first, 
which included the French possession of Franche Comte, 
would have closed all communication between the Spanish 
Low Countries, the Empire, and Lorraine. The Dutch 
too, he felt, would by this choice be alarmed at the 
proximity of France, and would be more interested in 
the continued defence of the rest of the Spanish Low 
Countries. 



172 English Restoratio)i and Louis XIV. 1668. 

The advantages gained by Louis were immense. 

Victory had, as it were, been given him by compulsion, 

and he appeared before Europe as the 

Advantages A L x 

gained by apostle of moderation. Confronted by a 
formidable alliance, he had himself laid 
down the conditions of peace ; and those conditions con- 
tained not one word to hamper his action in that which 
especially caused the fears of Europe — the prosecution 
of his claim to the Spanish monarchy. The fortresses of 
Charleroi, Binch, Ath, Douai (with Scarpe), Tournai, 
Oudenarde, Lille, Armentieres, Courtrai, Bergues, and 
Furnes, with their districts, which were now secured to 
him by treaty, constituted a veritable fronliere de fer, 
the impregnable north-eastern frontier of France for 
which Henri IV., Richelieu, and Mazarin had all striven. 
Paris was now the real centre of the country, and the 
way for the next leap to European supremacy was open 
and easy. 



CHAPTER XV. 



COMPLETE FAILURE OF CHARLES'S ATTEMPTS AT 

TOLERATION AFTER THE FALL OF CLARENDON. 

1667-167 1. 

i. Toleration during the Recess of Parliament. 
The fall of Clarendon constituted a definite point of de- 
parture in the history of the reign of Charles II.; for it 
removed one obstacle to the fulfilment of his purpose of 
„ , . , resting his power upon the good-will and 

Buckingham ° r r G 

and Ariing- gratitude of Dissent. Buckingham and 

Arlington were naturally ready to espouse a 

policy opposed to that of Clarendon. But their private 

inclinations also led them towards toleration ; Bucking- 



172 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1668. 

The advantages gained by Louis were immense. 

Victory had, as it were, been given him by compulsion, 

and he appeared before Europe as the 

Advantages x L x 

gained by apostle of moderation. Confronted by a 
formidable alliance, he had himself laid 
down the conditions of peace ; and those conditions con- 
tained not one word to hamper his action in that which 
especially caused the fears of Europe — the prosecution 
of his claim to the Spanish monarchy. The fortresses of 
Charleroi, Binch, Ath, Douai (with Scarpe), Tournai, 
Oudenarde, Lille, Armentieres, Courtrai, Bergues, and 
Furnes, with their districts, which were now secured to 
him by treaty, constituted a veritable frontiere de fer, 
the impregnable north-eastern frontier of France for 
which Henri IV., Richelieu, and Mazarin had all striven. 
Paris was now the real centre of the country, and the 
way for the next leap to European supremacy was open 
and easy. 



CHAPTER XV. 



COMPLETE FAILURE OF CHARLES'S ATTEMPTS AT 

TOLERATION AFTER THE FALL OF CLARENDON. 

1667-167 1. 

i. Toleration during the Recess of Parliament. 
The fall of Clarendon constituted a definite point of de- 
parture in the history of the reign of Charles II.; for it 
removed one obstacle to the fulfilment of his purpose of 

resting his power upon the good-will and 
and Arling- gratitude of Dissent. Buckingham and 

Arlington were naturally ready to espouse a 
policy opposed to that of Clarendon. But their private 
inclinations also led them towards toleration ; Bucking- 




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1 668. Contest Regardi?ig Toleration. 173 

ham, as the husband of Fairfax's daughter, and the 
patron of Protestant discontent ; Arlington, as a sym- 
pathiser with the Catholics, even if he were not one 
himself. 

As long as the recess lasted they had their way. The 
penal statutes were ignored, the prisons set open, and 
the meeting-houses again thronged. The 

. ° ° . ° Renewed 

Presbyterians received ostentatious favour, attempt at 
while many old Commonwealth men again 
appeared in public. A conference was held in which 
Orlando Bridgeman (who as Lord Keeper of the Seals 
had succeeded Clarendon), Lord Chief Justice Hale, and 
some of the purest characters of both the Church and the 
dissenting bodies took part, and a bill was drafted 
whereby, upon some alterations of ceremonies and the 
form of ordination, the Presbyterians were to re-enter 
the Church, while the other sects whose principles for- 
bade association with a State establishment were to have 
three years' full indulgence. It was confidently hoped 
that Parliament, rendered tractable by the Triple Alli- 
ance, would give their consent to this proposal. 

This hope soon proved groundless. The Commons 
had indeed overthrown Clarendon, because he had 
resisted their encroachments on the prerogative, and was 
thought to favour France, not because he had opposed 
toleration. Upon this question they had always been 
more Clarendonian than Clarendon himself, and it was 
now found that their views were but strengthened by 
their late successes. 

2. Persecution during the Session. 
The intentions of the King had already leaked out, 
and the Commons met (February 10, 1668) in a state of 
excessive irritation to consider the speech from the 



174 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1668. 

throne. The usual demand for money occupied the first 
place. Then followed a request that they would ' seriously 
think of some course to beget a better union and com- 
posure in the minds of my Protestant subjects in matters 
of religion.' All mention of Catholics was carefully 
avoided. 

The reply of the Commons struck the prevailing note 
of distrust. A subsidy of 300,000/. was indeed voted, 
Anger of the but with a demand for definite application. 
Commons. a searching inquiry was instituted into the 
mismanagement of the Dutch war, and especially into 
the Chatham disgrace. They next sought to restore the 
Attempt to abandoned safeguards to the Triennial Bill 
THenniS 6 ( see P- I 3°) b y entrusting the Chancellor 
Bil1 - with the duty of issuing writs should the 

King fail to do so within three years of a dissolution. 
But the dislike to stultify themselves so soon, the in- 
decency of pushing the King so hard, and the fact that 
in Sweden, the only other country then under parlia- 
mentary government, writs were issued by officials only 
during a minority, furnished arguments to the court party ; 
and a technical irregularity in the introduction of the bill 
was made an excuse for waiving the question. Language 
of unusual boldness was however heard in the debate, 
and phrases such as ' compelling the king by law ' were 
significant of the rising anger and distrust. 

On the main issue there was among the vast majority 
no hesitation. Charles was at once petitioned to pro- 
Failure of claim the suppression of all unlawful assem- 
attempt at bnes > whether Papist or Protestant. He well 
toleration. knew that upon his answer depended a 
continuance of the supplies which his extravagance ren- 
dered necessary. The short-lived hopes of the Dissenters 
came to an end. The desires of the King, the influence 



1 668. Contest Regarding Toleration. 175 

of Buckingham and Arlington, and the wishes of the 
best men of both parties were alike powerless before the 
angry determination of the Commons. 

On March 11 they settled down to the consideration 
of the last part of the King's speech. The minority 
spoke with boldness and force. They urged that ' if a 
man finds not his account in the government he lives 
under he will never labour to support it,' and they repre- 
sented vividly the evils which the persecuting Acts were 
causing to trade. The dread of a standing army was 
appealed to on both sides ; it was alternately Debates on 
declared that toleration with its consequent protJo"safs S 
anarchy, and repression with its consequent March 1668. 
discontent, would alike demand the maintenance of a 
military force. The violent Churchmen used the old 
language. The Presbyterians had, it was true, brought 
about the Restoration, and were supporters of monarchy ; 
and yet their tenets were destructive of proper govern- 
ment : 'The king but "minister bonorum" ' — 'greater 
than any one man, but less than the people ' — ' salus 
populi suprema lex.' They must not be allowed a footing, 
lest they destroy the whole. The charge that, though 
by profession men of mercy, Churchmen carried things 
with excessive severity, was met by the question, ' Must 
a father yield authority to his son ? ' Leave was at length 
given to introduce a bill to continue the Conventicle 
Acts. 

On April 8 the proposal that the King should be asked 
to hold a conference of divines was fully debated. It 
was argued that severity did but make Dissent respect- 
able ; that the justices refused to convict, because the 
wife and children of the offender became chargeable on 
the parish ; and that it was dangerous to make laws too 
big to be executed. Waller likened the Church to an 



176 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1668. 

elder brother among the Turks who strangles his brethren 
lest they should threaten the succession ; and he bade 
the House take notice that Empson and Dudley were 
hanged not for extortion but for pressing the penal laws. 
The Tolerationists had the speaking to themselves ; but 
the majority had the votes, and the proposal was rejected 
by 176 to 70. 

Three weeks later, on the bill for continuing the Con- 
venticle Acts, the advocates of severity had their way. In 
Bill for con- va i n tnev were urged ' to make the fire in the 
ventkfe C ° n " chimney and not in the middle of the room,' 
Acts, May and warned against making it so hot that it 
would burn both the victims and their execu- 
tioners. The prevailing sentiment was probably inter- 
preted by a speaker who declared that if the Catholics did 
not come under this bill he should ask leave to bring in 
one to tolerate Popery. The bill was carried by 144 to 
73- 

For a while the attention of the House was distracted by 
a famous controversy with the Lords, embittered by the 
The Skinner jealousy aroused by their frequent and seri- 
controversy. ous assum p t i ons an d extensions of power 

since the Restoration. A merchant named Skinner, who 
complained that the East India Company had seized his 
ship and cargo, and assaulted himself, laid his cause be- 
fore the Privy Council instead of first appealing to the law 
courts ; the Privy Council referred the matter to the Lords, 
and the Lords awarded him heavy damages. The com- 
pany thereupon appealed to the Commons, who at once 
denied the legality of an original appeal to the Lords in a 
case with which the ordinary courts were competent to 
deal, declared the action of the Lords to be a breach of 
privilege, and ordered Skinner into custody. They passed, 
too, a vote that anybody who assisted in carrying out the 



1669. Contest Regarding Toleration. 177 

order of the Lords should be deemed a betrayer of the 
liberties of the Commons of England and an infringer of 
the privileges of the House. The Lords thereupon com- 
mitted to prison Sir Samuel Barnardiston, chairman of the 
company and a member of the Commons, and fined him 
500/. So violent was the quarrel, and so complete the 
deadlock, that the opportunity was a good one for seeing 
whether, if time were given for passions to cool, the 
Commons might not at the same time be induced to waive 
their opposition to toleration. Charles therefore, on May 
8, 1668, ordered the House to adjourn itself, and after- 
wards by successive adjournments put off its meeting until 
October 19, 1669. 

During this long interval the question of a dissolution 
was again earnestly discussed. Not only were both Buck- 
ingham and Arlington anxious to avoid par- Discussion of 
liamentary attack, but they were confident of advisability 

, . ,, ,. , _. r of a dissolu- 

the full support of the Dissenters for a new tion. 
election, since their condition had again been Fresh tolera 
ameliorated as soon as Parliament had been tion during 
adjourned. The more pronounced sectarians 
had been secured by Buckingham, and had offered a large 
contribution towards the King's expenses in return for the 
indulgence he promised. Charles had himself received a 
Presbyterian deputation, and declared he still hoped to see 
their body before long within the national Church. 

It is probable that a dissolution would have secured his 
objects. But the old fears again prevailed. Monk, who 
still possessed great influence, urged that a Parliament 
composed largely of the oppressed would seek for ven- 
geance on their oppressors, and exclaimed that rather than 
wait for that day he would leave England. Charles de- 
termined once more to face his old Parliament, the meeting 
of which could not indeed be longer delayed. During the 

M 



178 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1669. 

recess a spasmodic attempt had been made to bring the 
expenditure within the revenue secured to the King for 
life. But ' economy was an exotic at court,' and money 
was again absolutely necessary. The Houses met on 
October 19, 1669. 

Had Charles been careful to maintain at least a mod- 
erate execution of the penal laws, it is possible that the 
Commons might at their coming together have accepted 
some indulgence for Protestant Dissent. As it was, they 
assembled possessed more than ever with the doctrines 
that Catholicism was their arch-enemy, and that an over- 
whelming and exclusive Anglican ascendancy was the 
only means whereby to fight this enemy. Sheldon had 
collected ex parte information as to the character of the 
conventicles, and even before the meeting of Parlia- 
ment had carried it to Charles and forced him to issue a 
fresh proclamation to enforce the laws. 

The session began with a strict examination into the 
public accounts. The King was then thanked for his 
Renewal of recent proclamation. The Commons next 
b er the Uti ° n appointed a committee to inquire into the 
Commons. holding of conventicles in London, which 
had aroused a blind dread of the return to a Common- 
wealth regime. The committee reported that such meet- 
ings were an affront to government, and an imminent 
danger to Parliament and the general peace. Monk was 
deputed to suppress them ; and it is noteworthy that this 
suppression had now become a matter of pure police ; 
the meetings were to be put down as politically danger- 
The Lords' °us ; religion was not named. The House 
claim to t j ien j-eturned to the Skinner dispute, justi- 

onginal c ' ■> 

jurisdiction, fi e d the unrestricted right of petitioning the 
Commons, which the Lords had called in question, and 
again declared the action of the Upper House in claim- 



1 67 1. Contest Regarding Toleration. 179 

ing original jurisdiction subversive of the rights both of 
themselves and of the subject. They asserted further 
that should the Lords at any time give a decision con- 
trary to law, the subject had a right to appeal to the 
Commons. The dispute was never settled, but the claim 
of the Lords to original jurisdiction was allowed to 
lapse, and has never been reasserted. 

Somewhat later the Commons practically defeated the 
Lords upon another question of great constitutional im- 
portance, their claim to make alterations in money bills. 
Such a claim had been made, and either al- 
lowed or contested, many times, without a alter money 
final decision being arrived at. At length, ' s ' 
in April 1671, the Lords reduced the amount of an im- 
position on sugar, and this led to a resolution of the 
Lower House to the effect that ' in all aids given to the 
King by the Commons the rate of tax ought not to be al- 
tered by the Lords.' The exclusive title of the Com- 
mons to the giving aids, ' the only poor thing the Com- 
mons can value themselves upon to their Prince,' or, in 
other words, the only real hold they have upon the 
Crown, was, in the words of the Attorney-General at 
the conference between the Houses, ' so fundamental 
that I cannot give a reason for it, for that would be a 
weakening of the Commons' right and privilege, which 
we can never depart from, being affirmatively possessed 
of it in all ages, and negatively as to the Lords.' The 
Lords, strong in the absence of proof to this effect, 
brought forward many precedents to the contrary, the 
relevancy and import of which was however challenged 
with great subtlety by the managers for the Commons. 
The question came to an end with the session, and, like 
that of the judicature, has never been formally settled. 
But, as with the latter, the Lords have tacitly given up 



i8o English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1670. 

the point ; for, though they have not acknowledged the 
privilege of the Commons further than as regards the 
originating of money bills, they have, on the other hand, 
never seriously questioned their right to the absolute ad- 
justment of all questions of taxation and supply. 

Hopeless of gaining his objects, Charles, on Decem- 
ber 11, 1669, once more prorogued Parliament, and thus 
ended a session which, lasting since February 10, 1668, 
had not passed a single Act. The supply which had 
been voted him was insufficient for the wide-reaching 
purposes which it will be seen he had in view, and he re- 
fused to accept it. He was already deep in secret negoti- 
ation with Louis, presently to be related, and he had 
hoped for assistance from Parliament large enough to en- 
able him to treat with that monarch on independent terms. 
The jealous parsimony of the Commons, who refused so 
much as to take his debts into consideration, changed 
his views. He determined to look to France for the 
money. 

When Parliament met for a new session on February 
14, 1670, an unusual scene was witnessed. For the first 
Charles ^ me m English history the sovereign in 

opens opening the proceedings was attended with 

Parliament .,. 6 T t ,. . , , , 

with military military pomp. It can hardly be doubted 
that his design was thus to accustom the 
people to the idea of a standing army. He met the 
Houses with confidence begotten by his dealings with 
Louis, and addressed them ' stylo minaci et imperatorio.' 
But he had another reason for confidence. He had no 
intention of hampering himself by a continuance of the 
quarrel. On the contrary, he was resolved to extract 
from Parliament an unstinted supply, which he would 
use for the objects most distasteful to it. He knew the 
one condition necessary, and he cynically determined to 



1670. Contest Regarding Toleration. 181 

offer it himself. His speech did not for once contain a 
word about toleration. The Commons understood that 
they might have their swing of persecution. They 
showed their instant recognition of the fact by voting a 
supply of 300,000/. a year for eight years. The Skinner 
dispute having been got out of the way by his sensible 
proposal that all the records connected with it should be 
erased, Charles left them without demur to settle down to 
their favourite work. So successful was this complete 
surrender of the policy which he had pursued since his 
restoration that, in the words of Andrew Marvell, ■ the 
King was never since his coming in, nay, all things con- 
sidered, no King since the Conquest, so absolutely pow- 
erful at home.' 

On March 2 the bill for suppressing conventicles passed 
its second reading on the old ground that 'seditious sec- 
taries, under pretence of tender consciences, The second 
do contrive insurrections at their meetings.' Bm V M tlC \ e 
It consisted of the former Act of 1664, with 1670. 
somewhat slighter penalties for the listeners, but with the 
addition of clauses which rendered it far more severe and 
thorough in application. Preachers and teachers were 
liable to a fine of 20/. for the first and 40/. for the second 
offence. Constables withholding information were to be 
fined 5/., and justices of the peace who refused to convict 
were to pay 100/. for every such refusal. Informers were 
further encouraged by the promise of half the fine. To 
protect the arbitrary execution of the law, it was decided 
that if any one appealed against a prosecution and was 
nonsuited he should be mulcted in treble costs ; while 
the climax of injustice was reached by the enactment that 
< all clauses shall be construed most largely and benefi- 
cially for the suppressing conventicles and for the justifi- 
cation and encouragement of all persons to be employed 



1 82 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1670. 

in the execution thereof. No warrant shall be made void 
for any default in form ; and if a person fly from one 
county or corporation to another, his goods and chattels 
shall be seizable wherever they are found.' 

This inhuman Act did not pass without protest. It was 
argued that ' men have a kindness for persecuted people 
Arguments ever since Henry VIII. and Mary ; ' the Dis- 
against it. senters, it was said, ' are like children's tops ; 
whip them and they stand upright, let them alone and 
they fall.' ' A man that has no preaching near him,' said 
Colonel Birch, an old Commonwealth man, ' will get it 
where he can. Is it reasonable to punish men when 
they must go four or five miles for a sermon ? To whip 
them, and not to be able to tell them why you do so, is 
unreasonable, they having no churches in many places 
to go to.' When Waller demanded that the conventi- 
clers should have no severer penalties than the Papists, 
he laid himself open to the obvious retort that that was 
just none at all ; and a reference to Louis XIV., who had 
solved the religious difficulty in France by allowing the 
Huguenots set and limited places of worship, was not 
likely to have much weight with an assembly to whom 
the name of France had become hateful. 

The Lords eagerly seconded the Commons in passing 
the bill. They attached to it however two provisos ; the 
The Lords' first to insist upon their own immunity from 
provisos. search, except by a warrant from the King 

under his sign manual, or in presence of the lord-lieu- 
tenant. The second ran thus : ' Provided always that 
neither this Act nor anything therein contained shall ex- 
tend to invalidate or avoid his Majesty's supremacy in 
ecclesiastical affairs, or to destroy any of his Majesty s 
rights, powers, or prerogatives, belonging to the imperial 
crown of this realm, or at any time exercised or enjoyed 



1670. Contest Regarding Toleration. 183 

by himself or any of his Majesty s royal predecessors ; 
but that his Majesty, his heirs and successors, may from 
time to time, and at all times hereafter, exercise and 
enjoy all such powers and authorities aforesaid, as fully 
and as amply as himself or any of his predecessors have 
or might have done the same ; anything in this Act or 
any other law, statute, or usage to the contrary notwith- 
standing.' It was not probable that the Commons would 
pass an amendment under cover of which the dispensing 
power might have been legally exercised. The words in 
italics were rejected by 122 to 68 ; and the Lords wisely 
refrained from insisting upon their view. On April 11, 
1670, Charles gave his assent to the bill. Sheldon 
hounded on the Bishops, and so severely was the Act 
executed that a trustworthy witness declared soon after- 
wards that there was scarcely a conventicle to be heard 
of all over England. 

Amid all this senseless cruelty one advance in consti- 
tutional liberty deserves to be recorded. The Quakers 
were especially obnoxious to the law. Find- Case of 
ing the usual place of meeting in Grace- ' William 

or & Penn ; rights 

church Street closed by soldiers, the cele- of juries, 
brated William Penn, the most eminent of ep ' * 7 °' 
their body, addressed the people in the open street. The 
Conventicle Act not technically touching this meeting, 
Penn and another Quaker, William Mead, were indicted 
at the Old Bailey on September I, 1670, for preaching 'to 
an unlawful, seditious, and riotous assembly, which had 
met together with force and arms.' The trial which fol- 
lowed is notable in the history of English liberty, for the 
jury for the first time asserted the right of juries to decide 
in opposition to the ruling of the court. They brought 
in a verdict declaring Penn and Mead 'guilty of speaking 
in Gracechurch Street,' but refused to add ' to an unlaw- 



184 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1671. 

ful assembly.' Then, as the pressure from the bench in- 
creased, and as they were sent back time after time with- 
out food, light, fire, or tobacco, they first acquitted Mead, 
while returning their original verdict upon Penn, and then, 
when that verdict was not admitted, gave in their final 
answer, ' not guilty,' for both. The Recorder of London 
fined the jurymen forty marks each for contumacy, and 
in default of payment imprisoned them ; whereupon they 
vindicated and established forever the right they had 
claimed of finding verdicts against the ruling of the 
bench, in an action before the court of Common Pleas, 
when the Lord Chief Justice Vaughan declared their im- 
prisonment illegal. 

Protestant Nonconformity being now out of the way, 
the Commons were at liberty to attack the other wing of 
the forces hostile to Anglican supremacy. On March 10, 
1 67 1, a remarkable petition was forwarded to the King, 
in which were set forth at length the causes of the in- 
Persecution crease of Popery and the remedies held to 
c?sm at March ^ e necessary. All Popish priests and Jesuits 
l6 7 x - were to be banished, with the exception of 

those attached by treaty to the Queen's household and to 
the foreign embassies. The existing laws against Popish 
recusants were to be rigidly enforced. Attendance at the 
chapels which by the exceptions mentioned were left un- 
molested was to be forbidden to the King's subjects. No 
civil or military office was for the future to be held by a 
Papist, or one ' justly suspected' to be so. All Catholic 
schools were to be closed, and the teachers punished. 
Plunket, Catholic primate of Ireland, and Peter Talbot, 
titular archbishop of Dublin, were to be arrested and 
sent to England for trial. To the demands for the 
banishment of priests and Jesuits, and for the enforce- 
ment of the penal laws against Popish recusants, Charles 



1 668. Preparations of Louis for War. 185 

yielded at once. Opinion had not however yet travelled 
so far as to force him to grant the rest. Being now 
secure of a further supply, the payment for this new 
surrender, Charles immediately prorogued the Parliament, 
which did not meet again for business until February 4, 
1672. Before that time the great crisis of the reign had 
been reached. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

PREPARATIONS OF LOUIS FOR THE INVASION OF THE 
UNITED PROVINCES. 

I. The Treaty of Dover, June i, 1670. 
The Triple Alliance had been entered into by Charles 
against his personal inclinations. No one in his con- 
fidence regarded it as more than a tempo- causes tend- 
rary expedient, for the disruptive forces were ing |° ^ e . al j 
as permanent as those which secured it Alliance. 
were fleeting. The King's antipathy to the Dutch was 
reinforced by desire of avenging the Chatham disgrace ; 
the same informal war of merchants wherever the two 
countries met in competition for trade, as had preluded 
the late struggle, was being waged ; and the old dispute 
of the flag had been revived. On the very day when 
London was blazing with bonfires to celebrate the con- 
clusion of peace, Clifford was heard to declare that for all 
the rejoicing there must soon be another war. 

That Louis should contentedly accept his rebuff at the 
hands of the Dutch was still less to be expected. As 
republicans, as traders, and as Protestants, they were 
the objects of his haughty contempt. As promoters of 
the Triple Alliance with its secret articles they were the 
objects of his bitter anger. The arrogance of speech in 



1 86 English Restoratio7i and Louis XIV. 1668. 

which they were unwisely indulging, their ' fanfaromiades 
de pecheurs ' — an arrogance exhibited especially in a 
medal in which France was represented as the sun 
(which Louis had adopted as the symbol of his grandeur) 
stayed in his course by the Republic — so rankled in his 
mind that he never, he says, entered his council without 
thinking how to make them pay dearly for the great role 
x . , they had assumed. But before attacking 

Louis deter- ° 

mines to gain them he set to work to remove from them 

all possible sources of support, to destroy 

the coalition limb by limb ; and he began with England. 

It is a mistake to regard Charles in what followed as 
making a surrender of himself to Louis. He was for the 
time master of his own game, and he exacted his own 
terms. The game was not an easy one to play. He was 
to break off an alliance upon which Parliament was most 
earnestly bent ; he was to enter into fellowship with the 
representative of European aggression and Catholic des- 
potism, and these were precisely what Parliament most 
dreaded. He had, too, to deal with the divisions in his 
own council. The frothy egotism of Buckingham was 
enlisted on the side of France ; while Arlington openly 
expressed the opinion that Louis was pretending to uni- 
versal monarchy, and that his wing must be clipped. 

The first approaches of Louis (April and May 1668) 
were frustrated by Arlington's action. When Ruvigny 
asked what offers he might place before his master, he 
insisted that the first proposals should come from France, 
and in the teeth of Buckingham's influence induced the 
King to send Temple as ambassador to the Hague — a step 
Arlington which, from Temple's well-known sym- 

a P Fren e c h t0 pathies, could only mean a determination to 
alliance. maintain the existing alliance. But Louis 

was not discouraged, for he had received the private 



1669. Preparations of Louis for War. 187 

assurances of Charles that he would willingly treat ' as 
between gentlemen,' and that he preferred his word to all 
the parchment in the world. He now replaced Ruvigny, 
whose Protestantism unfitted him for the work in hand, 
by Colbert de Croissy, brother of his great finance 
minister, with instructions at all cost to secure Arlington. 
The strictest secrecy was to be observed, but, since 
Charles had broken a previous informal agreement, any 
fresh understanding must be precise, and signed by the 
commissioners of the two Kings. 

At the outset he again met with disappointment. 
Charles frankly told Colbert (August 1668) that he was 
almost the only man in his dominions in Louis's interest. 
Arlington declared that trade was the English idol, and 
any alliance would be judged by that test. Colbert 
decided that it would be waste of money to offer him the 
lavish bribe which Louis had suggested. 

At one point however Arlington as well as Bucking- 
ham could be reached. The return of Clarendon, then 
an exile in France, would have meant to them political 
downfall. Harping skilfully upon this fear, Louis so far 
succeeded, that in February, 1669, Arlington himself 
made advances to Colbert. 

This change of tone was however probably due far 
more to another event. The Duke of York had lately 
declared his conversion to Catholicism, and conversion 
with all a convert's ardour was urging his of James. 
brother to the same course. Arlington was warmly 
attached to Catholic views. He had now a good excuse 
for deserting the Dutch, and ranging himself on the side 
to which he knew his master inclined. From this 
moment he became the eager promoter of the treaty. 

Charles had hitherto sought favour for the Catholics 
under cover of toleration for Protestant Dissent. For 



1 88 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1669. 

Protestant Dissent, as such, he had no sympathy, and he 
threw aside without reluctance that part of his scheme. 
The other part however was always actively present to 
his mind. The political view of the matter was as strong 
as the religious ; only under a Catholic constitution, he 
said, might a King of England hope to become absolute. 
But an influence of a more personal kind was acting 
upon the King. If there was one being for whom he felt 
a genuine affection it was his sister Henrietta, the wife of 
Louis's younger brother, the Duke of Orleans (seep. 108). 
_ . . A devoted Catholic, she longed before all 

Declaration , ° 

of conversion things that her brothers might likewise find 
the true road to salvation. She had suc- 
ceeded with James. She now succeeded with Charles. 
On January 25, 1669, the King in strict secrecy announced 
his conversion to Arlington, Clifford, and Arundel. 

He now placed the entire conduct of the proposed al- 
liance in the hands of Arlington and Colbert. Bucking- 
ham, as a Protestant and a babbler, was excluded from all 
participation in the 'grand secret. ' Personal negotiations 
were at once opened with Louis. It was understood that 
if Charles would join the French monarchy against the 
Dutch he should be assisted in every way to establish an 
uncontrolled authority in England, and to declare his 
conversion. The frequent journeys of messengers be- 
tween London and Paris soon aroused public notice and 
jealousy. It was openly declared in the streets that a 
compact was already concluded, and the price was named 
for which English honour had been bought and sold. 

Charles was already, he wrote to his sister in June 

c , . , 1669, making formidable preparations. He 

prepara- was rapidly fortifying the principal ports of 

the kingdom, and placing them in sure 

hands. The number of his troops was being cautiously 



1 669. Preparations of Louis for War. 1 89 

increased, and he could fully rely upon their devotion. 
Lauderdale, his viceroy in Scotland, had created an army 
of 22,000 men, bound by Act of Parliament to march 
when and whither he pleased within his dominions. 
Ireland too, under Berkeley, was in good hands. He 
was resolved to proclaim his conversion the moment he 
felt safe. 

But it is easy to reckon Charles's words at too high a 
rate. A fixed resolve was utterly foreign to his nature, 
and day by day, as his character deteriorated under 
continual debauchery, he grew less capable of sustained 
effort. Time after time we see him forming great de- 
signs, and proceeding with them just so long as they do 
not meet with formidable resistance. Careless as he 
always appeared of public opinion, he never deceived 
himself for long as to the facts of his position. He 
never forgot his father's fate, and, as he humorously said, 
he had no intention of again 'going on his travels.' 

Temple meanwhile was doing his best to sustain the 
alliance which his master had determined to betray. At 
his instigation the States General formally complained to 
Louis, on behalf of Spain, of infractions of the Treaty of 
Aix-la Chapelle. Louis replied in the language of insult. 
To the Dutch, he said, he refused any explanation ; but 
he would willingly listen to any communi- 

J J His 

cation from the King of England. Charles, difficulties; 
though to satisfy Louis he repudiated Tern- deceiving ° 
pie's action, was much disquieted. To ob- Parliament, 
tain the supplies he needed from Parliament he felt that 
he must be able to assure them with verbal accuracy 
that the Triple Alliance was firm, and that there was no 
danger of nuther attack upon the Spanish Low Countries. 
It was arranged therefore that Louis should request 
Charles to a:3 as meditator between him and Spain in 



190 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1669. 

the disputes which had arisen, and that by including 
Sweden in the arbitration the opportunity should be 
taken to separate her interest from that of the Dutch. 
Sweden meanwhile, angry at the delay in the payment 
by Spain of the promised subsidies, was threatening to 
withdraw her guarantee of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 
De Witt therefore urged Charles to maintain the coalition 
by offering his security to Sweden that her claims should 
be satisfied (see p. 168) ; and Charles, to avoid increas- 
ing De Witt's growing suspicions, and for the reason 
already mentioned, thought it prudent to give way. 

Meanwhile some amusing fencing had taken place 
between Charles and Colbert, upon the question whether 
Charles and the King's declaration of war against the 
Colbert. Republic should precede or follow the an- 

nouncement of his conversion. The object of Louis was 
to attack the Dutch at the earliest moment ; Charles was 
in no haste to bind himself to the cost and risks of a 
great war. Upon the religious question, he said, he could 
reckon upon the neutrality of the Dissenters, for they 
hated the Church more than they hated Catholicism ; 
with his troops and fortresses he should be strong enough 
to carry the matter through. Colbert laid stress upon the 
fact that in such a case the Dutch would stand before Eu- 
rope as the champions of the Protestant cause, while the 
difficulties which would necessarily arise at home would 
prevent the King from using his strength for the war. 
But if, sustained by the commercial jealousy of his own 
people, he first declared war, he would have good ground 
for demanding supplies ; with the troops and ships thus 
provided he would find it easy, at the close of a success- 
ful conflict, to secure a quiet acquiescence in his conver- 
sion. To Charles's next suggestion, that Louis should 
first be^in hostilities, and that he himself should then 



i66g. Preparations of Louis for War. 191 

carry out both parts of his scheme simultaneously, Louis 
replied with an absolute refusal to begin the war without 
the explicit concurrence of England. 

Louis had been well served by the conduct of the Eng- 
lish Parliament, which met on October 19, 1669. Charles, 
in asking for a supply, had prided himself upon being 
the happy instrument which had secured the Triple Alli- 
ance and the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. He had used 
language which, though not verbally mendacious — since 
there was no intention of breaking the Treaty of Aix-la- 
Chapelle — was intended to lead to the belief that the 
Triple Alliance was equally firm. The fraud 

_? J ,. , . . Distrust of 

was a vain one. Disregarding his appeals the Com- 
for supply and for the payment of his debts, mons 
the Commons voted the inadequate sum of 400,000/. 
Charles at once decided to go on with the negotiations 
with Louis (see p. 180). 

On December 18, 1669, Arlington submitted to Louis 
demands which did credit to Charles's audacity. The 
declaration of Catholicism was to precede Charles's 
the war, at a date settled by Charles himself; later and 
for this Louis was to give him 200,000/. and conditions. 
armed help, should it prove necessary, against his own 
subjects. For the war, in which he was to join only when 
England had been pacified, he was to receive 800,000/. a 
year ; at its conclusion Minorca, Ostend, Walcheren, 
Sluys, and Cadsand, with Spanish America at a future 
time, were to pass into his hands ; the interests of the 
Prince of Orange were to be preserved, and the Peace of 
Aix-la-Chapelle maintained. On his side Charles was to 
support Louis by land and sea in the Dutch war, and, 
when the time came, in making good his claim on the 
Spanish monarchy ; he was for the present to maintain 
6,000 infantry in the French service. Louis replied that 



192 English Restoratio?i and Louis XIV. 1659. 

rather than agree to such preposterous terms he would 
wait until he could do the work himself. 

Charles was however only playing a game of brag. On 
January 24, 1670, he made further proposals, which for 
the first time convinced Louis that he was in earnest. 
They contained one provision however which showed how 
well Charles knew the temper of his people. He told 
Louis bluntly that no English captain would take orders 
from a French admiral ; if therefore the fleets were 
united, they must sail under English command. 

The reconciliation which he secured with Parliament 
in the session of February 10th, 1670, with its practical 
result in the vote of 300,000/. a year for seven years (see 
p. 181), greatly strengthened Charles's position in these 
negotiations. He now began to hang back from the alli- 
ance and to raise his terms ; and on every point — com- 
mercial advantages, the command and numbers of the 
fleet, the payment of subsidies in hard cash and not 
in letters of exchange, even his demand that in the 
powers given to the commissioners he should be styled 
' King of France ' — Louis found himself compelled to 
yield. 

His compliance was hastened by the action of De Witt, 
who had at length become convinced that treason to the 
Alarm of De Triple Alliance was being hatched in Lon- 
Witt. ^ on> Tk e Q ran( i Pensionary determined to 

send his leading diplomatist, Van Beuninghen, to ascer- 
tain the truth, and frustrate, if he could, any such design. 
Louis, who knew Van Beuninghen's reputation for per- 
suasiveness, resolved to anticipate the visit. No one, he 
felt, was so likely to overcome Charles's reluctance and the 
few remaining difficulties as his sister Henrietta ; her in- 
fluence over her brother was immense, and her hatred of 
the States-General, on account of the dependent position 



1670. Preparations of Louis for War. 193 

in which they kept her nephew, was keener than that of 
Charles himself. She more than fulfilled her mission. 
On May t; she arrived at Dover, where _. m 

J J The Treaty 

she was met by Charles; and on June 1, of Dover, 
1670, Colbert for France, and Arlington, x 7P,Jun< 
Clifford, Arundel, and Sir Richard Belings for England, 
signed the celebrated Treaty of Dover, the ' Traite de 
Madame,' as it was often called, though the terms had 
practically been agreed upon between Arlington and 
Colbert in March. A fortnight later the ratifications 
were exchanged. When Van Beuninghen arrived all 
was over, and nothing remained but to carry out the 
farce by keeping him in play with feigned negotiations, 
in which Charles's own ministers, Bridgeman, Trevor, 
and Ashley, were equally his dupes. 

By this famous compact Louis, at no great cost, se- 
cured his immediate object. The Triple Alliance was 
broken up. England was to join in war its condi- 
upon the Republic, and Louis was to choose tlons- 
the moment of declaration ; an English land force was 
to serve under French command and in French pay ; 
and when there should arise a failure in the Spanish male 
line Charles was to help Louis by sea and land to make 
good his claims upon that monarchy. But Charles was, 
except for honour, no loser by the bargain, nor, he might 
claim, was England. He was indeed to declare his con- 
version ; but, while he was at once to receive 150,000/. to 
aid him in any difficulties which might arise, the date 
was left entirely to himself. So long as the war lasted 
he was to receive 225,000/. a year ; and at its conclusion, 
Walcheren, Sluys, and Cadsand, giving him the com- 
mand of the coasts of Zealand, were to be his share of 
the spoil. The treaty of commerce was to be immedi- 
ately concluded, and the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle 

N 



194 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1671. 

maintained. The supremacy of England at sea was 
marked by the condition that France was to raise only 
thirty vessels, to be regarded as auxiliaries to the fleet 
equipped by England, and that the whole should be 
under the command of an English admiral. 

A new difficulty, giving occasion for one of the most 
curious pieces of by-play in history, now arose. It was 
The sh m impossible to show the treaty as it stood to 
treaty, janu- those servants of the king who were Protes- 
tants — to Buckingham, Lauderdale, Bridge- 
man, Trevor, Ashley, Ormond, or Rupert ; it was equally 
impossible to keep the secret long. With Buckingham's 
inordinate vanity however to play upon, the matter was 
very simple. He was allowed to negotiate — in the belief 
that the suggestion was his own — a fresh treaty. Led on 
by the flattery of Louis, and still more by the feigned 
hesitations of Arlington and Colbert, while Charles 
looked on with infinite amusement, helaboured zealously 
in preparing a draft (January 1671) differing from the ori- 
ginal one in only two important respects. All mention 
of the conversion was omitted, the subsidy offered for 
that purpose being now added to that to be given for the 
war. The opportunity was then taken to secure still fur- 
ther advantages for England. Goree and Worne were 
added to the places to be given her ; and the commander 
of the English land contingent was to take precedence of 
all the lieutenant-generals of France. Louis had his way 
on only one point. The nearer that Charles approached 
the question of Catholicism the less agreeable grew the 
prospect. He had indeed spoken confidently of his 
forces in Scotland and Ireland, but they were composed 
of Protestants, and, on this question, would fail him at 
the pinch. He had regarded this second treaty as a way 
out of the difficulty ; but Louis insisted on a secret arti- 



1 67 1. Preparations of Louis for War. 195 

cle, unknown to Buckingham, that in this respect the 
first agreement should stand. The ostensible treaty was 
then signed by Buckingham, Lauderdale, and Ashley. 
Thus, among all the immediate advisers of the Crown, 
there was not one who held his hand from this shameless 
abandonment of an alliance which England had herself 
sought. 

The second treaty had fixed the spring of 1672 for 
the declaration of war. Strangely enough, this was the 
doing, not of Louis, but of Charles. He had now two 
reasons for desiring prompt action. The advisability 0/ 
settling both the war and the religious question before 
the next meeting of Parliament was urged upon him by 
James ; and he happened, through the success of his 
duplicity, and through his abandonment of toleration, to 
be in possession of ample funds. On October 24, 1670, 
he had opened Parliament with a speech in which he had 
carried deception to the furthest point short of absolute 
falsehood. The reputation he had acquired Par i iameDt 
by the Triple Alliance and the commercial deceived by 
treaties with Spain, France, Denmark, and i arg e sup- 
Savoy, was magnified. ' In a word,' so ran phes - 
the speech, ' almost all the princes of Europe do seek 
his Majesty's friendship, as acknowledging they cannot 
secure, much less improve, their present condition with- 
out it.' The necessity of raising the navy to proportions 
which might challenge the daily increasing armaments 
of France and the Dutch was dwelt upon. Not a hint 
was dropped that the bonds of the Triple Alliance 
were likely to be relaxed ; the first of Temple's, treaties 
indeed, which bound England and the Republic to 
mutual assistance in case of attack, was specially men- 
tioned. Thoroughly deceived, the Commons answered 



196 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 

the King's demand for still a further supply by a vote 
for no less than 800,000/. 

The importance of the Treaty of Dover can scarcely 
be overrated. In spite of the advantages Charles had 
Effects of extorted, Louis was the real gainer. Charles 

Treaty of had entered upon a course which, becoming 

more and more one of subservience toFrance, 
placed it henceforth in the power of Louis to neutral- 
ise the influence of English opinion, and even to enlist 
the material support of England in the interests of des- 
potism and Catholicism. This political profligacy was 
responsible for the miseries to which for more than a 
generation Europe was subjected. Without England, 
Louis would not have dared to attack the Dutch, for the 
fleets of the Republic would have swept his commerce 
from the seas; while the cordial union of the two great 
naval powers would have stood like a wall against his 
schemes of aggression. Had England at this moment 
possessed a King of lofty temper, proud to lead and apt 
to control the current of national feeling, the chapter 
of bloodshed and desolation which began at Dover and 
ended at Utrecht would probably have remained un- 
written. 

2. Treaty with Sweden and the Princes of the 
Empire. 

Louis had now lopped the principal limb from the 
Triple Alliance ; he determined to detach the Swedes 
also. For a long while his success seemed doubtful. 
They would be glad, they said, to see the naval power 
of the Republic crippled, but they had no wish to see 
her ruined. To overcome their scruples, Charles, at 
Louis's request, sent Henry Coventry in October 167 1 



1 67 1. Preparations of Louis for War. 1 97 

to support the French ambassador, Courtin. Between 
Courtin and Coventry on the one hand, and the am- 
bassadors of Spain, Austria, Brandenburg, and the Re- 
public on the other, a daily diplomatic duel was waged 
for several months. Sweden was poor, and the more 
she was courted the higher she raised her terms. This 
gave a decisive advantage to the longer purse and 
clearer purpose of Louis. On May 6, 1672, he secured 
a treaty for three years, by which Sweden Treaty be- 
agreed to oppose any Princes of the Empire and^^Sen, 
who might attack him ; to send 16,000 men Ma v l6 7 2 » 
into Pomerania, in order to defend his line of march ; 
and to regard any breach of neutrality on the part of 
Dutch garrisons in places belonging to the Empire as a 
declaration of war. For this she was to receive 100,000/. 
at once, and 150,000/. a year during the war. Her jeal- 
ousy of Denmark — so great, said Lionne, that their dogs 
would not hunt in company — was expressed by the de- 
mand that Louis should guarantee the present peace 
between them, but that Denmark should not enter the 
alliance, except by the mutual consent of France and 
Sweden. 

Almost as important to Louis were the treaties which 
in July 1 67 1 he succeeded in forming at Hanover, 
Cologne, Munster, and Osnabruck. By lavish subsidies 
and the promise of a share in the spoil, he an d with 
secured a free passage for his troops and the man princes, 
right of purchasing stores, while similar ad- J ul y x 7 61 - 
vantages were to be refused to any forces which might be 
sent by Leopold to the aid of the Dutch. The Elector of 
Brandenburg however, who was an ardent Protestant, 
and the other Princes of his family, rejected the proposals 
of Louis. 



198 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1670. 

3. Treaty of Neutrality with Leopold. 

In all these cases the diplomacy of Louis had been 
assisted by at least an apparent community of interest. 
It was far different with the negotiations which he had 
begun early in 1668 with the Emperor Leopold, first to 
restrain him from joining the Triple Alliance, and later 
to secure his neutrality when France attacked the Dutch. 
De Gremonville, the negotiator of the Partition Treaty, 
was entrusted with this affair also. He was alternately 
assisted and hindered by the character of Leopold and 
The Em- tne state of his councils. The Emperor, 

peror. originally destined for the Church, had the 

tastes and bearing of a recluse. So irresolute was he, 
that his own ministers declared him to be only a statue 
which people could carry about and put up at their 
pleasure. From week to week he wavered in his plans 
as the arguments of De Gremonville, the pressure of 
Spain and the Dutch, personal pique, the force of old 
connections, the influence of his mother, his position as 
head of the Empire, and the internal dissensions of his 
heterogeneous kingdom, acted upon his mind. 

From the date of the Triple Alliance De Gremonville 
carried on single-handed, and with inexhaustible skill 
and temper, a daily contest against all the influences 
adverse to France. His plan was to give Leopold no rest, 
but, by placing before him proposals which followed one 
De Gremon- another as fast as each was rejected, to keep 
Vllle - him in a constant state of nervous anxiety. 

Incessantly craving audiences which Leopold could not 
refuse, or conferring with his ministers, whose rivalry he 
knew well how to foster and utilise, he positively bewil- 
dered them with the innumerable arguments furnished 
to him by Louis and Lionne, and by his own astuteness. 
Unruffled by any insult and undeterred by any tempo- 



1670. Preparations of Louis for War. 199 

rary check, with absolute confidence both in his master 
and in himself, he was the one stable element in the sea 
of warring interests by which he was surrounded. Not 
until February, 1670, however could he claim any impor- 
tant success beyond that of restraining Leopold from 
taking decisive action. Even then the Emperor's promise 
that he would not enter the Triple Alliance was but a 
spoken one. He had however expressed himself willing 
to leave the Dutch to their fate, provided Louis would 
promise not to attack Spain ; and Louis had hastened to 
cut the ground from under his feet by writing publicly to 
the Pope, engaging not to do so for at least a year. 

Further progress was now delayed by the masterful 
action of Louis himself. Charles IV., the errant Duke of 
Lorraine, restored to his estates by the Peace _ . _ 

J Invasion or 

of the Pyrenees, had in 1662 formally handed Lorraine by 
them over to Louis, on condition that the August 1670. 
Princes of Lorraine should be recognised as Vienna" 
members of the royal family of France. He 
received them again in 1663, upon giving up Marsal, the 
key of the country, and admitting the sovereignty of 
Louis to the great road from Metz to Alsace, with a 
league's breadth of country the whole of its length. In 
August, 1670, however Louis heard that the Duke was 
intriguing against him with the Dutch and the Electors 
of Treves and Mayence. Not sorry for the excuse, Louis 
declared the treaty dissolved by this act, poured troops 
into Lorraine, and in a few days had overrun the country. 
This new aggression roused the utmost resentment at 
Vienna. Not only was Lorraine a dependency of the 
Empire, but Charles IV. was the brother-in-law of Leo- 
pold. The refusal of Louis to attend to all remonstrances, 
the reproaches of the German Princes, and the threats 
of Spain that, as he had abandoned his family interests, 



200 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1671. 

they would abandon him, once more turned the Emperor's 
fickle resolution against France. 

Louis now directed De Gremonville to employ his 
utmost efforts to secure a written promise of neutrality 
when the attack on the Dutch took place, 
threatens the But this, in his present mood, the Emperor 
j-mperon refused to give. Hereupon Louis, for the 

cember 18, first time, indulged in threats. Since Leo- 
pold reserved to himself the liberty of help- 
ing the enemies of France, he should claim a similar 
freedom for himself. The effect was immediate, for the 
Emperor knew that it would be easy at any moment for 
Louis to stir up war in Hungary. He therefore promised 
his neutrality, so long as neither the Empire nor Spain 
were attacked. Even then it required the further threat 
of an immediate abandonment of the negotiations to 
overcome the dilatoriness of the imperial court. It was 
not until November, 1671, that, thoroughly wearied out, 
Leopold signed a treaty promising that in case of the 
expected war he would not interfere provided that the 
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle were preserved. 

And thus' was completed the circle of negotiations by 
which Louis had during nearly four years been engaged 
in securing that, when he attacked the Republic, she 
should look around her in vain for support. The ability 
and firmness with which his purpose had been main- 
tained were as remarkable as that purpose was unscru- 
pulous and base. 



[671. Charles II. a?id the Cabal. 201 



CHAPTER XVII. 

CHARLES II. AND THE CABAL. 
167I-2. 

i. The Cabal. 
The prorogation of April 22, 1671, left Charles once 
more free from parliamentary control. The manner in 
which, aided by the peculiar character of the executive 
government, he used his liberty, led to the great crisis of 
his reign. 

The Privy Council, which in theory was always con- 
sulted, had been found to be an inconveniently large 
body. It had become the custom therefore The Cabal 
to form within it a small committee, or prSent fr ° m 
' cabal ' (a term at least as old as the reign Cabinet. 
of James I.), of the members most in the King's confi- 
dence, to which were referred not only foreign affairs, for 
which it was primarily intended, but all matters of impor- 
tance and secrecy. This * cabal ' has been regarded as 
the origin of the present ' Cabinet.' But the ' Cabinet ' is 
representative of the people, at any rate of the House of 
Commons, possibly in antagonism to the personal wishes 
of the Crown ; whereas the ' Cabal ' was the representa- 
tive of the Crown, often in spite of both Commons and 
people ; neither existing nor ceasing to exist with any 
direct reference to their opinion. Each member held his 
place purely at the King's will ; he gave his advice, but 
his duty then was to support whatever decision the King 
might choose to adopt. 

The Cabal, at the time of the Treaty of Dover, practi- 
cally consisted of Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ash- 



202 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1671. 

ley, and Lauderdale, though Bridgeman, Trevor, Ormond, 
Rupert, and others were at times included. It was soon 
noticed that the initial letters of these first five names 
made up the word ' cabal,' and it is therefore to this par- 
ticular Cabal that the title has been specially attached. 
Among the five there was, besides the guilty knowledge 
of one or other of the Treaties of Dover, but one bond 
of union. All of them, though from the most various 
motives, were in favour of toleration. 

Sir Thomas Clifford was perhaps the most picturesque 

figure of the Cabal. ' A valiant, incorrupt gentleman, 

ambitious, not covetous, passionate, a most 

Clifford. . r . , , A , ' , 

constant, sincere friend. An ardent Catho- 
lic in sympathies, if not by actual conversion, he was as 
ardent an advocate of an uncontrolled monarchy. ' Only 
in the combination of religious freedom and royal despot- 
ism did he see sal va' ion for the State.' His temper was 
vehement, his eloquence striking, his personal courage 
conspicuous. The story is well known how, during the 
former war, when on a visit to Arlington at Euston in 
Suffolk, he and Ormond's son, Ossory, hearing the guns 
off Harwich, leaped on their horses, galloped to the coast, 
and put off in an open boat to join the fleet and serve as 
volunteers through one of the bloodiest days in English 
naval warfare. Though a poor man, his hands were 
clean of bribes, and his life was remarkably pure. His 
horoscope foretold him fame and fortune, but an early 
death. He answered that he cared not for an early death 
if before he died he might witness the triumph of the 
Catholic Church. 

Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley, ancestor of the 
Ashley present Earl of Shaftesbury, had been in 

Cooper. t i ie forefront of political life since boyhood. 

In the days of 'the Commonwealth he had striven 



\6j\. Charles II. and the Cabal. 203 

against Cromwell in support of parliamentary govern- 
ment, and after the Protector's death had taken a great 
share in breaking down the despotism of the army ; in 
spite of his present complicity in Charles's counsels he 
was still a keen upholder of parliamentary rule. He was 
violently anti-Catholic, not from any religious convic- 
tions, but because, as he expressed it, 'Popery and 
slavery go ever, like two sisters, hand in hand ; ' but he 
had been a supporter of every attempt at toleration of 
Protestant dissent, as being necessary for trade ; and in 
the constitution which at his request John Locke drew up 
for the new colony of Carolina toleration was a leading 
feature. He had established a reputation for business 
power, tact, and finesse ; and though he never affected 
to censure the prevailing private and public immorality, 
he shunned debauchery in his own person, and, like 
Clifford, is free from any well established charge of 
bribery. Small and slight in stature and of delicate 
health, he had a soul as ambitious and fiery as that of 
Clifford himself; and it was not until the end of his 
career that his keen political foresight gave way under 
the excitement of faction and the harassments of ill- 
health. But though he possessed an intuitive perception 
of those causes which had a great future before them, his 
conduct was always liable to be modified by the determi- 
nation to ride on the crest of the political wave ; and 
while from his ready and incisive eloquence, his un- 
ceasing activity, and his skill in party warfare which, in 
its modern form, he may be said to have originated, 
he was always formidable, he is far more often spoken of 
with distrust than with admiration or respect. 

John Maitland, Duke of Lauderdale, was only in the 
second place an English politician. He was Charles's 
irresponsible and almost absolute viceroy of Scotland, at 



204 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1671. 

a time when Scotland was completely separated in 
, , , sympathies from England. He was, too, 

Lauderdale. J £L. & 

the King s devoted personal adherent, eager 
to carry out his slightest wishes, which he affirmed were 
more to him than all human laws, and to pander to his 
most shameless vices. Utterly dissolute as he was in 
morals and religion, his early career as a Presbyterian 
caused him to be regarded as a Protestant, and, as such, 
he was excluded from knowledge of the Catholic plot. 

There is one other person whose influence was more 
powerful and lasting than that of the professional politi- 
Louise de cians. This was a young Breton girl of 

Kerouaiie. noble family, who came over in the train 
of Henrietta, and who, by the beauty of her ' baby face,' 
and a winning charm of manner and conversation which 
formed a piquant contrast to the vulgar humours of 
Lady Castlemaine and Nell Gwyn, completely capti- 
vated Charles. It is more than probable that Louis 
had determined that some permanent representative of 
French influence should have a place in that scene of 
female caprice which surrounded Charles's most intimate 
life, and that it was this which Louise de Kerouaiie was 
to supply. She soon became the chief intermediary be- 
tween the monarchs, sharing in all their schemes of 
statecraft, and displaying an independence of judg- 
ment and a capacity for intrigue worthy of a practised 
politician. Her influence was recognised by the hatred 
with which she was popularly regarded as the agent of 
France. 

Upon Louise de Kerouaiie, better known as the 
Duchess of Portsmouth, as upon the other women of 
Charles's harem, the treasure of the country was 
poured out in reckless profusion. It was not without 
good reason that a caricature published in Holland rep- 



1672. Charles II and the Cabal. 205 

resented the King between two women, with his pockets 
turned inside out. The supplies voted by Parliament, 
the subsidies of Louis, ran like water through the hands 
of these female favourites. Pensions, pat- Squandering 
ents, monopolies, crown lands, reversions of of money, 
lucrative posts, were showered upon them and their 
children. Louise de Keroualle alone had before long an 
annual income of 40,000/.; and in 1681 the enormous 
sum of 136,000/. passed through her hands. It is no 
wonder that, this being but one form of expenditure on 
his pleasures, the sums received by Charles were all too 
small, and that in August, 1671, his debts were reckoned 
at more than three millions. 

2. Stop of the Exchequer. Declaration of 
Indulgence. Dutch War. 

A state of things so desperate, with an expensive war 
in prospect, suggested desperate remedies. All evidence 
points to Clifford as the author of the Stop of the 
confession of national bankruptcy known as Exchequer, 
the ' Stop of the Exchequer,' though it is possible that a 
similar step by Mazarin (see p. 28) may have suggested 
it to Charles. It was customary for the bankers to 
advance money to the Crown, on the faith of taxes 
voted by Parliament but not yet collected, at an 
interest of twelve per cent. It was now determined in 
the Privy Council, though against the advice of Ashley, 
to apply the whole proceeds of the taxes for 1672 to the 
war, the bankers being left unpaid, while for the future 
the interest on the money thus confiscated should be re- 
duced to six per cent. The sum upon which by this 
outrageous breach of faith Charles laid violent hands, 
1,400,000/., was secured at the cost of the permanent ruin 
of the royal credit and general commercial distress. 



206 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 

Hundreds of private persons were left destitute, for the 
bankers were compelled to suspend payment, and mer- 
chants who had placed money in their hands were unable 
to carry on their ordinary business. And after all, says 
a shrewd observer, ' as it did not supply the expenses of 
the meditated war, so it melted away, I know not how.' 

For carrying through this scheme, the flagrant dis- 
honesty of which was evidently obscured by his view of 
the proper privileges of royalty (see p. 202), Clifford was 
rewarded with a peerage and the Lord Treasurer's staff. 
The second important measure which signalised the 
spring of 1672 must be laid to the credit of 
rfSdS- 011 Ashley. Trusting, no doubt, that at the 
gence, 1672, close of the war he would be in a position to 

March 15. r 

dictate his own terms to Parliament, Charles 
made another attempt to secure the dispensing power. On 
March 15, 1672, he published the famous Declaration of 
Indulgence. It was evidently drawn up by Ashley, 
whose often expressed views were thus set forth in the 
preamble : ' We do now issue this our Declaration, as 
well for the quieting of our good subjects as for inviting 
strangers in this conjuncture to come and live under us, 
and for a better encouragement of all to a cheerful fol- 
lowing of their trades and callings.' Charles then boldly 

claimed the dispensing power. Looking to 
dafms^he tne ' unna PPy differences in matters of re- 
dispensing limon,' he declared himself ' obliged to make 

power. ' . ..... 

use of that supreme power in ecclesiastical 
matters which is not only inherent in Us, but hath been 
declared and recognised to be so by several statutes and 
Acts of Parliament.' In the vain hope of conciliating the 
Church, the declaration stipulated that the ' doctrine, dis- 
cipline, privileges, and government of the Church as now 
established' should be scrupulously observed. The suspen- 



1672. The Dutch Republic before the War. 207 

sion of ' all manner of penal laws in matters ecclesiastical 
against whatsoever sort of Nonconformists or recusants' 
was announced ; while, in pursuance of a plan adopted 
by Louis with marked success, but which had been on a 
former occasion rejected by the Commons, certain places 
were to be licensed for the worship of nonconforming 
Protestants. Catholics however were to be allowed only 
their former liberty to hold service in their private houses, 
The issue of the Declaration had been hindered by 
the conduct of Orlando Bridgeman, Keeper of the Seals. 
That honest minister had already made difficulties in 
the matter of the Stop of the Exchequer ; he now abso- 
lutely refused to put the Great Seal to the Declaration. 
The opportunity was taken to reward its author. Bridge- 
man was removed, and Ashley, under the title of Earl 
of Shaftesbury, was made Lord Chancellor. Two days 
after the issue of the Declaration, the last great step for 
which the members of the Cabal were jointly responsible 
was taken. On March 17 war was declared against the 
Dutch. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE DUTCH REPUBLIC BEFORE THE WAR. 

The Republic had risen with remarkable elasticity from 
the exhaustion of the late war. A national debt of twelve 
and a half millions sterling was borne with ease. Her 
population was rapidly increasing; her commerce was 
expanding in every quarter of the globe, and her traders 
were displaying their former exclusiveness. But this 
absorption in the search for wealth, and their apparent 
immunity from foreign invasion, forbade in her people 
that spirit of watchfulness and that readiness to sink 



2o8 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 

individual interests in the national welfare which result 
from the constant imminence of danger. ' The character 
of the Dutch,' said De Witt, 'is such that they will 
take no steps for defence until the danger stares them in 
the face.' 

With all this apparent prosperity there existed, in the 
claims of the Prince of Orange, an abiding source of 
Political political instability. De Witt had indeed 

instability ot secured the charge of his education as a 

the & 

Republic. ward of the State, and was sedulously train- 

the Princeof m g hi m > a s Mazarin trained Louis, to be fit 
Orange. t0 g 0vern# The ' Perpetual Edict,' of Jan- 

uary 1668, and the 'Act of Harmony' which followed, 
had secured the separation of the civil and military com- 
mands ; for the Stadtholderate was abolished in Holland, 
while in the other provinces it was rendered incompatible 
with the offices of Captain or Admiral General of the 
Republic — offices which the Prince was to occupy only 
when he reached the age of twenty-two. With the sym- 
pathy however of both Louis and Charles, he soon began 
to act for himself. Escaping in September, 1668, from 
De Witt's surveillance, he hastened to Zealand, where 
his party was strong, and was received with enthusiasm. 
In 1670 De Witt was compelled to assent to his taking 
his seat on the Council of State, and to his visiting Eng- 
land. As war grew imminent his claims became more 
acceptable ; the past was forgotten, except that under the 
leadership of his house independence had been won. 
The army and navy were enthusiastic in his favour. 
In the spring of 1672, after taking an oath to maintain 
the ' Perpetual Edict,' and with many limitations, he 
was made Captain-General for one campaign, the office 
to be continued for life should it seem fitting when he 
had completed his twenty-second year. The Admiralty, 



1672. The Dutch Republic before the War. 209 

so long as Ruyter was there to lead the fleet, was held 
in reserve. 

De Witt offered a signal example of the truth of his own 
saying. He could not bring himself to believe that his 
work was so soon to perish, though mysterious warnings 
had reached him as early as February, 1668. When how- 
ever his offers to assist Louis in his eventual designs upon 
Spain and to settle the Spanish Low Countries favour- 
ably to French interests were slightingly passed by, and 
a complimentary address from the States-General to 
Louis in Flanders, in the spring of 1671, was received 
with studied coldness ; when Louis refused to include 
the Republic in the arbitration concerning his alleged 
infractions of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle ; when the 
French ambassador was removed from the De 
Hague, and no successor sent; when heavy convinced of 
duties were imposed upon Dutch goods Louis and 
entering France, and all attemps at retalia- Charles, 
tion treated with contempt, the truth came upon him with 
terrible clearness. In January, 1672, he made a final 
appeal to Louis, offering to disarm completely if he 
would do the same, and would remove the hostile 
tariffs. Louis replied that he should complete his pre- 
parations and should use his forces as best befitted his 
dignity. 

The awakening to the treachery of Charles had been still 
slower and more painful. Here too he had tried every 
means of conciliation. Hearing of the King's irritation 
at the pamphlets, medals, and triumphal pictures which 
glorified the Chatham achievement, and especially that 
the captured ' Royal Charles ' was made a common show, 
he had the moulds of the medals broken, the pamphlets 
as far as possible suppressed, the royal arms removed 
from the vessel and her name altered — concessions which 
o 



2IO English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 

were viewed merely as signs of weakness. The recall of 
Temple in July 1671 was made the occasion for a wanton 
insult to the Dutch. The captain of the yacht sent to bring 
back Lady Temple was ordered by Charles to sail through 
their fleet in the Channel, to insist upon their lowering 
their flags, and in case of refusal to take such action as 
would compel them to fire upon him, and so appear the 
aggressors — a scheme frustrated only by the self-restraint 
of the Dutch admiral, Van Ghent. In December, Down- 
ing, a well-known enemy of the Republic, was sent to sue- 
In ults to ceed Temple as ambassador to the Hague, 
Dutch ; with instructions to bring about a rupture. In 

attack on 

Smyrna the most offensive terms he demanded re- 

paration for the insults of which Charles com- 
plained, and specifically insisted upon the acknowledgment 
of the maritime supremacy of England over all seas, 
going so far as to require that whole fleets should lower 
their flags to a single English warship. Even to this out- 
rageous demand De Witt was willing to give way, pro- 
vided the King would engage to assist the Republic against 
France. As late as March 3, 1672, he endeavoured to con- 
jure away the danger by the offer of a heavy personal 
bribe to Charles. 

Charles had wished to appear as the attacked party. 
When he found the attempt useless, he began hostilities 
by an act which Louis himself contemptuously character- 
ised as sheer piracy. The Dutch merchant fleet from 
Smyrna was lying at anchor off the Isle of Wight. Ad- 
miral Holmes was ordered to attack without warning, and 
to capture the convoy. But the Dutch were prepared, and 
after a severe engagement (March 13) the fleet escaped 
with the loss of only two vessels. War was declared by 
England four days later. 

As danger approached, the Dutch had done their best 






1672. The Dutch Republic before the War. 211 

to secure allies. But their proverbial thriftiness stood 
much in their way. They might undoubtedly have an- 
ticipated France in securing Sweden had they been as open- 
handed as Louis. Only in two quarters did they gain any 
important success. The Grand Elector of 
Brandenburg, the most powerful of the Ger- Republic* 
man Princes, had been induced through his ofBmnden- 

vehement Protestantism and his jealousy of burg, April 

1672. 
the proximity of French troops to sign a treaty 

in February, 167 1, which became effectual in April 1672, 
when he promised to aid the Republic with 22,000 men; and 
his adhesion brought with it that of the Elector of Mayence. 
Spain too, convinced that if the United Provinces fell into 
the hands of Louis nothing could save her Low Countries, 
concluded with the Dutch a treaty of mutual defence. 

But even so the case of the Republic seemed despe- 
rate against the forces which Louis was prepared to launch 
upon her. The retrenchment of expenses 
after the peace had been unwisely made n e"rof P the * 
upon the army. No less than 41,000 men Dutch 

r J ~ against a 

had then been disbanded. Obligatory ser- land inva- 
vice had become a dead letter. Among the 
troops that remained there was little discipline. The 
best among the officers had resigned their commissions 
in consequence of their sympathies with the cause of 
William. The commissariat was disorganised, the forti- 
fications were in decay, and the country was almost 
denuded of military stores. When war was declared, 
there were, in spite of De Witt's utmost efforts, but 
52 000 men with the standards. These were placed 
under William as Captain-General, with Frederick of 
Nassau, his natural uncle, and John Maurice, the Rhine- 
grave, then a man of sixty-five years of age, in charge 
of infantry and cavalry respectively. 



212 English Restoration and Lotus XIV. 1672. 

With these miserable forces the Republic prepared to 
confront as best it might an army of 176,000 men, led by 
Conde, Turenne, Luxemburg, and the great 
army. engineer Vauban, and admirably equipped 

in every arm. This was the ' escort ' which, as Louis said, 
permitted him ' to travel safely in the United Provinces.' 
To face Ruyter's fleet of 135 ships he trusted chiefly to 
England; but he had himself collected 120 vessels, 
mounted with 5,000 guns. As a retort to the medal 
which had so aroused his anger, he caused another to be 
struck, in which the sun was portrayed dispersing the 
frogs from a marsh, and bearing as its motto, in allusion 
to the fact that it was through French assistance that the 
Republic had been created, the words, ' Evexi, sed dis- 
cutiam ' — ' I raised them up, and I will disperse them.' 



CHAPTER XIX. 

INVASION OF THE UNITED PROVINCES. 

i. French Occupation. 
Louis had spoken of ' travelling safely ' in the United 
Provinces. But none really regarded the enterprise as a 
light one. Conde, who was not wont to count danger 
highly, confessed the anxiety he felt ; he even prophesied 
disaster. Temple compared Louis to a strong swimmer, 
who plunges full of confidence into the water; 'but a 
strong current, the wasting of his strength, or an accident 
will surely sweep him away.' Every provision was made 
for a difficult and dangerous expedition. The magnifi- 
cent force collected at Charleroi was complete through- 
out its equipment. Vast stores were laid up at Neuss, a 
little below Cologne; and the labour of transport was 
thus saved over half the route. 



1672. Invasion of the United Provinces. 213 

Had De Witt been seconded with ability, this advan- 
tage would have been wanting to Louis. He had sent a 
detachment of cavalry to surprise Neuss ; „ ., 

^ 1 r i- • i- , Futile pro- 

but the lack of discipline among the men, jects of 
who betrayed their approach by a continuous 
fusillade upon the fowls and geese along the route, 
frustrated the design. His project for anticipating the 
declaration of war by entering Brest, Rochelle, and 
other open French ports, and destroying the ships which 
were being fitted out there, was rendered futile by the 
want of a strong central authority. The jealousy of 
Zealand caused the failure of a still bolder design. This 
was no less than to repeat the Chatham exploit ; to sail 
up the Thames before the English fleet could issue out, 
and there, in the heart of his kingdom, challenge the 
power of Charles. Before the Zealand squadron had 
joined the fleet the bulk of the English vessels were out 
of the river ; and though Van Ghent, with a number of 
light ships, reached Sheerness, he could not force a 
further passage. 

Two routes were before Louis — by the Meuse or by the 
Rhine. Blocking the former stood Maestricht, a strong 
fortress garrisoned by Dutch troops. Sup- m 

. 1 L The Rhine 

posing this obstacle overcome, and the line route chosen 
of the Meuse followed, the army would be y 
confronted before it entered Dutch territory by the Waal, 
a deep and wide river, defended at the crossing point by 
Nimwegen. If the Rhine route were chosen, it would be 
necessary to capture four fortressess — Orsoy, Rhynberg, 
Wesel, and Biirick — then in Dutch hands. Following 
the right bank, the army would finally have to cross the 
Yssel, which leaves the Rhine just above Arnheim. It 
was determined to adopt the latter of these two plans. 
On May 5 Louis joined the army at Charleroi. Marching 



214 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 

swiftly along the Sambre, he led his forces near Liege, 
on the Meuse. On the 15th Maseyck, a little north, and 
Tongres, a little south, of Maestricht, were taken and 
garrisoned, that place being thus completely masked. 
Passing the Meuse at Vise, Louis reached his magazines 
at Neuss on the 31st. Here the army was divided, Conde 
crossing the Rhine at Kaiserwerth. On June 2 the for- 
tresses were simultaneously attacked. By the 6th Tu- 
renne had taken Orsoy, Biirick, and Rhynberg on the left 
bank, while Wesel on the right surrendered to Conde. 
Crossing at Wesel, Turenne rejoined Conde, and on the 
1 ith the whole force was before the Yssel, faced by Wil- 
liam with all the troops he could muster. Conde now 
offered to wager that he would force a passage with a loss 
of less than four hundred men. 

A plan even less dangerous was adopted. By crossing 
at Tolhuys, between the outflows of the Waal and the 
Crossing of Yssel, the whole army might easily be placed 
Toihu 1 ?" 6 at * n t ^ ie re &i° n between the Waal and the 
1672, Rhine known as the ' Betuwe.' Robbed of 

the volume of the Waal, the river is here 
easily fordable by cavalry. William had, moreover, 
neglected to defend it in force. The celebrated ' passage 
of the Rhine ' therefore, which, graced by the young 
monarch's presence, aroused such enthusiasm in France, 
has been described by Napoleon as an ' operation of the 
fourth order.' It was made with only one serious mis- 
hap. Conde, as he led the dash into the river, was 
wounded in the wrist, and could take no further part in 
the advance. The next day a bridge was thrown over 
and the whole army crossed into the Betuwe. 

The line of the Yssel being thus turned, William fell 
back towards Amsterdam, with the regiments of Holland, 
Guelders, and Utrecht, numbering some 12,000 men. 



1672. Invasion of the United Provinces. 215 

The rest refused to take part in the defence of any prov- 
ince but their own, and were left uselessly cooped up in 
Arnheim, Nimwegen, and the Yssel for- Mistakes of 
tresses. Had Louis followed Conde's advice, Rochefort's 
to send his cavalry straight upon Amster- cavalry dash 

1 .u • Ta u Ul X. toMuyden. 

dam, the campaign would probably have 
been ended at a blow. Yielding however to the presump- 
tion of Louvois, he ordered Turenne to complete the 
conquest of the Betuwe while himself, after investing 
Nimwegen, crossed the Rhine once more below Arnheim, 
took that town, and proceeded leisurely to reduce the 
Yssel forts. The mistake was well-nigh redeemed by the 
enterprise of the Count of Rochefort, who with 1,800 
horsemen made a dash for Muyden, within sight of Am- 
sterdam, in order to secure the sluices, passing William, 
and capturing as he sped on, Rheuss, Amersfort, and 
Naarden. A few of his men reached Muyden only to 
find that at the critical moment John Maurice had thrown 
in a garrison. Returning on his track, Rochefort on June 
23 entered Utrecht, which William had abandoned when 
the inhabitants refused to sacrifice their gardens and 
villas for its defence. 

Louis however, in spite of the check at Muyden, felt 
sure of his prey. Advancing from the Yssel, he took up 
his quarters at Utrecht, published a proclamation calling 
upon the towns which still held out to surrender, under 
the severest penalties of war, and waited for the submis- 
sion of Amsterdam. 

But that submission never came. As early Opening of 

* the sluices ; 

as April the supreme necessity had been defence of 
foreseen by De Witt. All had been in i6™ S , erC 
readiness to open the sluices and cut the J une l8, 
dykes. On June 1 5 the memorable resolution was come 
to. By the 18th the sacrifice was consummated. The 



216 E7iglish Restoration and Lota's XIV. 1672. 

sea poured in, placing a waste of water between Louis 
and Amsterdam, and the province of Holland at least 
was saved. The citizens worked with the intensest 
energy to provide for their defence. The archives and 
State treasures were transferred thither from the Hague, 
and the States General held their sittings there. The 
mills were set to grind powder instead of corn ; the regi- 
ments which had followed William were taken into the 
pay of Holland ; every fourth man among the peasantry 
was enlisted ; marines and gunners were drawn from the 
fleet. A strong force was sent to guard the shores of the 
Zuyder Zee, while a swarm of light vessels rendered any 
attempt of the French ships to make use of the inundation 
hopeless. The resolution of the men of Holland rose day 
by day, now that they were fighting for their own pro- 
vince. The Republic had been well-nigh lost through 
the want of imperial spirit; it was now saved by the 
vigour of local patriotism. 

A gleam of light came from Zealand. Louis had left 
behind him a strong force near Ath to watch the Spanish 
Success Low Countries. Their commander, hearing 

° f t | ie , that Aardenburg, which guarded the entry 

at into Zealand, was weakly garrisoned.marched 

through Spanish territory with 5,000 men 
and suddenly appeared before the town. Attacking with 
his advanced guard, he was driven back with loss. A 
second assault with his whole force was even more disas- 
trous, while to complete his discomfiture the captain of a 
Zealand vessel landed his crew of 200 men, and by a 
vigorous flank attack so well seconded a sortie of the gar- 
rison that the French were compelled to retreat with great 
loss in killed and prisoners. By this spirited feat of arms 
Zealand was placed in safety, and French troops were 
shown to be not invincible. 



1672. Invasion of the United Provinces. 217 

Thus saved on land by a desperate appeal to nature, 
the Republic had been saved at sea by the valour of her 
sailors. On June 7 Ruyter encountered the Naval 
united fleets of France and England in ^^f 
Southwold Bay. At seven in the morning ^"If *"., 

3 ° Southwold 

they joined battle. Ruyter, with whom was Bay, 
Cornelius de Witt, led the centre. He or-. June 7 ' 
dered the pilot to lay his vessel, ' The Seven Provinces,' 
alongside James's flag-ship, ' The Prince,' while Banck- 
ers and Van Ghent attacked the French squadron under 
Estrees and the English left wing under the Earl of Sand- 
wich respectively. Within two hours 'The Prince' was 
so shattered that James, among whose faults a lack of 
personal bravery can never be numbered, was compelled 
to row off under the fire of the enemy and hoist his flag 
upon the ' St. Michael.' Before the day ended the ' St. 
Michael ' too sank under him, and he barely escaped to 
the ' London.' On the English right Estrees fell back, 
pursued by Banckers ; while on the left a terrible fight 
raged throughout the long summer's day. Van Ghent 
was killed early in the action. Sandwich, after a des- 
perate resistance to overwhelming attacks, perished with 
his son by the sinking of the boat in which they were 
rowing to another ship. Ruyter, who had been seriously 
endangered by the absence of Banckers, recovered as- 
cendancy late in the evening ; and, when night fell, the 
English were falling back with a loss of five ships of the 
line, 2,500 men, and no fewer than eighteen captains. A 
dense fog prevented Ruyter from pushing his victory next 
day. But he had done his work ; he had at the critical 
moment preserved the coasts of the Republic from attack, 
and was able to give his attention to secure the safe har- 
bouring of the East India fleet. 



218 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 

2. The Orange Reaction. Murder of the De Witts. 
The prospect of final rescue was however so dim, that 
the States General determined to negotiate with Louis. 
When their deputation reached his camp at Doesburg, on 
the Yssel, they were told by Louvois that satisfaction for 
the allies of France and the payment of the entire ex- 
penses of the war were necessary preliminaries to a 
treaty. The States-General were disposed to yield, but 
the deputies of Amsterdam in the Provincial Estates of 
Holland stood firm. Come what might, they declared 
that they would have no part in such a submission. 

In the vehement discussions which had arisen De 
Witt had had no share. Each day of misfortune had led 
more definitely to his fall. As unity of command grew 
indispensable, the restoration of the Stadtholderate was 
demanded with increasing insistance, and to this re- 
storation he was regarded as the main obstacle. The 
most atrocious calumnies, especially from 

Attempted r ' 

murder of the pulpits of the Calvinistic clergy, who 

were vehemently in William's interest, were 
now levelled against him. He was accused of being an 
accomplice of Louis, and of having sent to Venice a large 
sum of public money for his own use. On June 21 
he was attacked in the streets and left for dead ; and on 
the same day an attempt was made at Dordrecht upon 
the life of his brother Cornelius. One of the ruffians 
was captured and hung ; the others, who were well 
known, found, to William's disgrace, a safe refuge in 
his camp. 

This deed only stimulated the reaction. One by one 
the towns of Zealand, and then of Holland, proclaimed 
William their Stadtholder. He was summoned to Dor- 
drecht, where he found the streets gay with orange and 
white flags, the white, in punning reference to the Grand 



1672. Invasion of the United Provinces. 219 

Pensionary's name, below the orange. On July 1 the 
Provincial Estates of Holland and Zealand sent to the 
towns, where it was received with enthu- Abrogation 
siasm, their vote for the abrogation of the perpetual 
Perpetual Edict; and on July 6 the Prince Edict - 
was proclaimed Stadtholder by both provinces, with all 
the privileges of his ancestors, the election of the mayors 
of towns being alone reserved. In this vote Guelders, 
Utrecht, and Overyssel were unable to concur, since 
they were in the hands of the French ; while Friesland 
and Groningen retained as Stadtholder the son of their 
former governor, Henry Casimir of Nassau. At the 
same time the States-General named the Prince, hence- 
forward William III., Captain and Admiral General of 
the Republic for life, saving the privileges of Henry 
Casimir. From this moment Louis had to reckon with 
the resistance, not merely of a valiant and stubborn 
people driven to desperation, but of such a people 
swayed by a will as proud and as tenacious as his own. 

Of this reaction the national need had been the im- 
mediate cause. It represented, also, the triumph of the 
democratic spirit over the merchant aristo- Murder 
cracy, which had so long kept the mass of ^J Witts, 
the people, as it had kept William, under its August 20, 

T j i_- l6 7 2 - 

control. A terrible crime now signalised this 
triumph. The enmity against the De Witts had been 
disarmed neither by the murderous attack upon them 
nor by the dignified address in which, after recounting 
the services of nineteen years, John de Witt resigned to 
the Provincial Estates of Holland his charge as Grand 
Pensionary. The populace determined on a full accom- 
plishment of their design. The blow fell first upon Cor- 
nelius, who, accused of plotting the murder of William, 
was enticed to the Hague, and there, by order of the 



220 English Restoration and Louts XIV. 1672. 

Court of Holland, put to the torture, and ordered to be 
banished from Holland and West Friesland. As he lay- 
crippled from the rack, the mob surrounded the prison 
to prevent his departure. By a feigned message his 
brother was induced to visit him there. Means were 
found to remove the guards who protected the prison 
from attack. Then, bursting open the gates, the crowd 
rushed to the room where the brothers were expecting 
their fate. They found Cornelius stretched on the bed, 
while John De Witt read aloud from the Bible. A blow 
struck the reader on the face and covered him with blood. 
Then Cornelius was dragged to his feet. Almost before 
the brothers had exchanged a last kiss he was hurled to 
the bottom of the stairs. Pushing their victims before 
them the mob rushed into the street, and there the 
butchery was completed. As John de Witt, struck to 
the earth, raised himself on his knees, and, holding his 
clasped hands to heaven, opened his lips to utter a last 
prayer, he was dashed backwards ; a man placed his foot 
upon his throat, and crying aloud, ' At last the Perpetual 
Edict is repealed,' blew out his brains with a pistol. The 
bodies were stripped and horribly outraged, and then, in 
the presence of a Calvinistic clergymen, were dragged 
through the streets to the scaffold and hung by the feet 
amid the jeers of the people. 

Upon no one did this foul deed throw more disgrace 
than upon William. By his ungenerous coldness after 
Conduct of the first attack, and by his protection of the 
William. assailants, he had made it evident that he 

was not likely to hinder the bloody work in hand. Not 
a word had escaped him to control the popular passion. 
When appealed to for troops to quell the riot he had 
turned a deaf ear, and when the murder was completed 
he not only protected the ringleaders, but actually con- 



1672. Invasion of the United Provinces. 221 

ferred upon them public preferment. The poor excuse 
that can be made for him is that by active steps to pre- 
vent this blind desire for vengeance he might have im- 
perilled his newly acquired position. 

3 Negotiations with Louis. Close of the French 
Attack. 

The States-General had meanwhile (June 29) submitted 
their fresh proposals to Louis. They offered him 
Maestricht and its dependencies, a portion of the 'Gene- 
rality' (see p. 8), and six millions of livres. They 
demanded in return that their political and religious in- 
dependence should remain intact. Louis has himself re- 
corded his regret that, acting under the 
advice of Louvois, he refused this magni- s ;dered 
ficent conclusion to the war, which, by plac- [^Dutch* 
ing in his hands a belt of fortresses from the offers by 
Meuse to the mouth of the Scheldt, would 
have nullified the power of the Republic to oppose him 
whenever he should determine to incorporate the Spanish 
Low Countries with France. Louvois persuaded him to 
require, in addition, satisfaction to his allies, the im- 
munity of all French subjects in the United Provinces 
from the ordinary dues and customs, the suppression of 
every commercial edict to the disadvantage of France 
issued since 1662, the establishment and support of 
Catholic churches, with a payment of twenty-four millions 
of livres. And he insisted that every year a deputa- 
tion should approach him at Paris to present him with a 
gold medal in token that they held their liberty at his 
grace. The reply of the States-General was that to 
accede to such demands would be to accede to dismem- 
berment, the reversal of their constitution, the ruin of 
their trade, and national dishonour. 



222 E?iglish Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 

Charles II. had meanwhile rejected the solicitations of 

the embassy which had been sent to him also, and had 

commissioned Buckingham, Arlington, and 

termination 6 " tne Earl °f Halifax to the French camp, with 

e u p v ss 1 d i!° power to act in concord with Louis. On their 

the English r 

ambassa- way they visited William at Bodegrave, and 

urged him to accept the offered terms. He 
told them that France might have Maestricht and the 
Rhine towns, but nothing more. ' Do you not see,' said 
Buckingham, 'that the Republic is lost?' The answer 
illustrated the new spirit which prevailed. ' I know one 
sure means of never seeing it — to die on the last dyke.' 
From William the commissioners went to Louis. They 
found him willing to add on behalf of England demands 
for an unconditional surrender on the vexed question of the 
flag, free fishing in Dutch waters, the command of the 
shores of Zealand, and the absolute sovereignty of the 
rest of the United Provinces for William. 

The joint demands were sent to the Prince, and laid by 
him before the States-General, who returned an unequivocal 
rejection. William would not even answer the despatch of 
Louis directly ; he contented himself with forwarding him 
His refusal t ^ ie C0 P V °f an extract from the formal reso- 
of the joint lution of the assembly. To stimulate further 
Louis and the national spirit he caused the dishonour- 

ing conditions to be posted on the public 
places of every town. 

F .. f This uncompromising tone had been 

allied fleet strengthened by a fresh piece of good fortune. 
Dutch On July 14 an Anglo-French fleet of 160 

i672. tS ' Jul> vessels was outside the Texel. Ruyter, with 
fifty partially equipped ships, could not have 
disputed their entrance. But a curious conjunction of 
wind and tide, long afterwards regarded as the visible 



1672. Invasion of the United Provinces. 223 

interposition of Providence, came to the aid of the 
Republic, and before it was over there gathered so 
fierce a three days' tempest that the shattered armament 
was compelled to return discomfited to the shores of 
England, without disembarking a single man. 

All active military operations against Holland were now 
necessarily at an end. There was not a Dutch town south 
of the inundation which was not in the hands of the 
French ; and nothing remained for the latter „ , r , 

' ° End of the 

but to lie idle until the ice of winter should French 
enable them to cross the floods which cut 
them off from Amsterdam. Leaving Turenne in com- 
mand, Louis therefore returned to St. Germain on August 
1. A medal, still harping on his favourite image, was 
struck to his glory, in which the sun was represented pass- 
ing through his twelve dwellings, pictured by the twelve 
principal conquered towns. 

Elsewhere the invasion had been foiled. The Duke of 
Luxemburg, aided by the forces of Cologne and Munster, 
had easily made himself master of Overyssel. He next 
fell upon Groningen. On June 30 he took Ccevorden, and 
then attacked the town of Groningen itself with 22,000 
men. Its fall would have led to the fall of Delfzyl, and 
the mouth of the Ems would have been T 

Invasion of 

open to the English fleet. The small Overyssel and 

1 r i r 1 1 Groningen. 

garrison however of 4,400 men defended Faiiureat 
themselves against an incessant bombard- Q^Singen 
ment and frequent assaults with so much August 
vigour that at the end of six weeks the 
besiegers retired with heavy loss. They were now re- 
called from Overyssel by new events. 



224 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1672. 

4. Failure of First Coalition against Louis. 
The alarm with which Europe had been watching the 
progress of Louis began to find expression. Switzerland, 
Alarm of even in her Catholic cantons, was so warm 

Europe. m behalf of the Republic that it was only 

by force that her regiments in the service of Louis were 
kept to their duty. Spain was doing her best to help the 
Dutch to defend themselves, though unable yet to take 
the offensive ; while Leopold, though for a long time 
held back by the Partition Treaty, was so alarmed by the 
dangers to the peace of the Empire from 
Leopold and tne extension of French power to the 
the Elector Rhine, that he formed on Tune 23 an alli- 

01 cranden- J u 

burg, June ance with Frederick William, the Grand 

2"3 1672 

Elector of Brandenburg, by which each 
engaged to raise 12,000 men at once, ostensibly to 
preserve the Peace of Westphalia and the internal 
peace of the Empire ; and another with the States- 
nr T , , General on October 27, by which he was 

Of Leopold ' J 

with the to receive a subsidy on joining the Grand 

General, Elector in the field. No peace was to be 

Oct. 17, 1672. ma d e with Louis without the consent of him 
self and the General Elector until the war finally closed. 

Louis had acted with his usual promptitude. He with- 
drew Turenne with 16,000 men to Westphalia, and 
placed Conde with 17,000 to guard Alsace. Duras was 
stationed on the Meuse ; Luxemburg remained with a 
small force at Utrecht. On September 12 the Austrian 
general Montecuculi, the Duke of Lorraine, and the 
Grand Elector effected their junction, intending to 
cross the Rhine and join William. Reinforced by the 
troops of Munster and Cologne from Overyssel, Turenne 
drove them back to Friedberg. At the end of November 
however they succeeded in crossing at Weissenau, only 



1672. Invasion of the United Provinces. 225 

to find that Turenne had by forced marches placed him- 
self in their path. Completely outgeneralled, winter 
they were compelled in December to recross campaign; 

J r discomfiture 

the river and, closely pressed, to retreat to of the allies 

■^ -i « ,i 1 ii- r^ by Turenne. 

Darmstadt. All through the winter Turenne 
pushed them home. While Louvois, jealous of the Great 
Captain's fame, was sending him reiterated orders to go 
into winter quarters, he gave the allies not a moment's 
repose, and by the beginning of March had driven 
them across the Weser; nor did he leave them until, 
utterly baffled, the Austrians had retired into Franconia, 
the Brandenburg contingent to Halberstadt. He again 
established his wearied troops in Westphalia. 

William had been meanwhile endeavouring to take 
advantage of this diversion. His first attempts, on 
Naarden and Woerden, had been foiled by William 
Luxemburg. Undiscouraged, he suddenly ^l for f -. 
threw himself with 35,000 men upon Duras, failure of his 

i -i • 1 t» *■ i enterprise. 

drove him across the Meuse, and on December 
December 15 invested Charleroi. But be- I5 ' l6?2 ' 
fore Conde could hasten from Alsace to the rescue, the 
Count of Montal had succeeded by a desperate attack 
in forcing William's lines and relieving the place. 
The Prince had no course left but to retreat in haste 
to Amsterdam. The victories of Turenne now deprived 
the Dutch of the ally in whom they most trusted. 
Frederick William, utterly disheartened, and tempted by 
liberal offers from Louis, agreed, on June 6, 1673, t0 re ~ 
main strictly neutral, to withdraw his gar- The Grand 
risons from all Dutch towns, to stay beyond nmkespeace, 
the Weser, and to allow French troops to J une 6 > l€>73 - 
pass into Germany to punish any infraction of the 
Treaty of Munster. By fresh arrangements with the 
Archbishop of Cologne and the Elector of Hanover 
P 



226 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1673. 

Louis also secured the continued occupation of Overyssel, 
and so deprived the Dutch of all hope of future aid from 
the side of Westphalia. 

Sweden now intervened. Fettered by fear of Denmark 
from taking an active part in the conflict, and unwilling 
Mediation of to see England without a rival at sea, she 
Conference thought her engagements with Louis suffi- 
of cologne ciently satisfied for the moment by sending, 

opens, June . 

1673. in September, 1672, both to Louis and Charles 

to offer her mediation ; and in June, 1673, a conference 
was opened at Cologne. Before the absolute refusal of 
the Dutch — who, as Charles complained to his Parlia- 
ment, treated his ambassadors ' with the contempt of 
conquerors, and not as might have been expected from 
men in their condition ' — to listen to the extravagant 
demands of the two Kings, nothing could be done. In 
July, Sweden endeavoured to secure some relaxation of 
these demands. The moment was unfor- 

(. apture of r 

Maestricht tunate, for Louis was in the flush of a new 
by Vauban. SUC cess. Maestricht, after a four weeks' 
siege, had fallen before the genius of Vauban. 

The end of August found the Dutch as uncompro- 
mising as Louis, for they had just fought and won a 
desperate campaign upon their own element. Charles 
had in the spring made all ready for another descent upon 
their coasts, for he saw in a striking victory over the 
Republic the sole chance of extricating himself from the 
increasing difficulties of his position at home. 

N"civ3.1 C3,ni~ 

pnign of He had collected 8,000 men at Yarmouth 

of 7 the Anglo- under the French general Schomberg, to be 
French fleet transported to Zealand when the way should 

by Ruyter ^ J 

and Tromp, have been cleared by a defeat of the Dutch 
June i 4 . ^^ t ^ j^ e ^ Rupert and Estrees met 

Ruyter and Tromp with almost equal forces. The day 



1673- Invasion of the United Provinces. 227 

was bloody but indecisive. The conflict was renewed 
on the 14th, when the Dutch fought with such fury 
that the English were driven back to the Thames. In 
the middle of August they set out again, this time 
with Schomberg's men on board. On the Second 
21st took place, close to the Zealand coast, August 21, 
the battle upon which hung the fate of the l6 ?3- 
Republic. From daylight till dark the terrible duel 
lasted. The church towers and housetops along the 
shore were crowded with anxious spectators. Not until 
7 in the evening did Rupert lose hope of victory. 
Then, as Ruyter prepared for a last desperate onset, he 
gave the signal for retreat, and the allied fleets sailed 
sullenly back to Yarmouth. 

William now replied once more to Louis and Charles. 
The French might have Maestricht, Zutphen, and Hulst. 
To England he would grant the salute, and nothing 
more. Cologne might retain Rhynberg. But Munster 
should have not an acre of land. The States-General 
further declared that after September 1 5 they would only 
make peace in concert with the Emperor and Spain. 

5. Second Coalition against Louis. Peace between 
England and the Republic Evacuation of the 
United Provinces by the French. 

William's tone was determined too by the fact that 
a coalition against Louis, more powerful than the last, 
had now been formed. Spain, profoundly moved by the 
capture of Maestricht, had managed to raise money to 
supply her army, and even to subsidise Leopold. On 
August 15 the latter issued a manifesto to the Diet, 
explaining that he went to war to defend the Empire ; 
and on the 30th three separate treaties were signed by 
the parties to the new alliance. By the first, Leopold 



228 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1673. 

Treaties agreed to march -,0,000 men to the Rhine, 

between ° u 

Leopold and where the Dutch would meet them with 
s p e a in U and' 20,000. By the second, Spain promised 
theBuk^of the Dutch to J om her forces to those of 
Lorraine the Empire, and, for a fresh guarantee 

three of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, to insist 

August'30, upon France restoring to the Republic all her 
l6 73- conquests ; while she herself was to regain 

the limits of the Peace of the Pyrenees and to retain 
Maestricht and Vroonhoven. By the third, the errant 
Duke of Lorraine, who furnished 18,000 men to the 
coalition, was to be restored to his estates at the end of 
the war. Peace was to be made only by the mutual 
consent of all the contracting powers. Active operations 
began at once. William, outmanoeuvring Conde, now 
in command in the United Provinces, captured Naarden 
(August 28), and, marching right forward to the Rhine, 
Capture of joined Montecuculi, who had slipped by 
wuuamand Turenne, a little below Bonn, which fell 
Lorraine, before their united efforts on November 12. 

November 

12,1673. The effect was immediate. Cologne and 

Munster made peace ; the Electors of Treves and May- 
ence joined the coalition. 

But far more important was it that, driven by the need 
of money, which Louis could only partially satisfy, and 
heartily tired of a war in which he had experienced little 
but defeat, Charles, after a conflict of several months, 
yielded to the conditions imposed upon him by Parliament, 
to whom this Cabal war, unlike the former, had from the 
first been distasteful, and in the teeth of his engage- 
ments with Louis, made peace with the Dutch. By the 
Treaty of London (February 19, 1674) the Republic 
yielded the honour of the flag from Cape Finisterre north- 
wards, agreed to pay 800,000 crowns, and granted to 



1 673. The Parliamentary Conflict in England. 229 

England the retention of all her conquests outside Europe. 
All future disputes between the rival East India Compa- 
nies were to be submitted to arbitration. Charles II. 
Charles promised that he would give no compelled to 

r ° make peace 

help to the enemies of the Republic. He with the 
managed however to evade the recall of the February'19, 
English regiments in the French service ; l6?4 * 
and his ambassadors at Cologne, where the conference 
lingered on until the end of March, remained to act in 
the French interest. 

But even these defections did not fully represent the 
weakening of Louis's cause. In January 1674 the 
coalition was joined by Denmark, and in 
March by the Electors Palatine ; in April joins the 
Leopold had gained the Dukes of Bruns- januafy' 
wick and Liineburg ; in May he induced l674< 
the Diet to declare war in the name of the Empire ; and 
on July 1 the Grand Elector once more threw in his lot 
with the enemies of France. Louis at once determined 
to concentrate all his strength. Bitterly repenting his 
refusal eighteen months earlier of a splendid termin- 
ation of his enterprise against the Republic, he saw him- 
self forced to relinquish it without having wrung from her 
a single concession, and with Maestricht and Grave alone 
out of forty large towns to represent his conquests. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE PARLIAMENTARY CONFLICT IN ENGLAND, 
i. The Test Act. February 4 — March 29, 1673. 
It is necessary now to recur to the progress of the par- 
liamentary conflict in England. The subsidies of Louis, 
the supplies previously voted, and the spoil of the Stop 



230 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1673. 

of the Exchequer had enabled Charles to dispense with 
an appeal to Parliament for nearly two years. These 
funds being exhausted, and Louis not being prepared to 
satisfy his needs, he met the Houses on February 4, 
1673. Assuming a tone of confidence, he put lightly 
aside the question of the standing army, whose ' dark 
hovering on Blackheath ' was exciting much suspicion, stat- 
ing indeed that several more regiments would be necessary 
in the spring; and he gave the usual assurances to the 
„, , Church. Then, trusting to waive all attack 

Charles & 

resolves to upon the Declaration of Indulgence by a 

maintain the . c . . , .„ , 

Declaration strong expression of his personal will, he 
dukence ended his reference to it by the words : 

February « And I will deal plainly with you, I am re- 

solved to stick to my Declaration.' Shaftes- 
bury followed with the famous ' Delenda est Carthago ' 
speech, in which he expressed the necessity of beating 
the Republic, as being ' England's eternal enemy, both 
by interest and inclination,' to the ground. 

On many questions the Commons were unexpectedly 
compliant. They introduced a bill for the monthly 
supply of 70,000/. for eighteen months ' for the King's 
extraordinary occasions,' thus avoiding direct reference 
to the war, of which the country was now weary, but were 
careful to proceed no further with it for the moment. 
They refrained from attacking the Stop of the Exchequer, 
the War, or the Cabal. This was because they had 
chosen to challenge the King on one matter alone. 

On February 8 took place the first debate on the 

Declaration. In its support the old arguments were 

used ; the advantage of trade, the increase 

Arguments . f 

for and of population which toleration always pro- 

agamstit. mo ted, the folly of causing discontent at 

home while a war demanding all the nation's energies 



1673- The Parliamentary Conflict in England. 231 

was on hand. The distinction between the prerogative 
in temporal and spiritual matters was dwelt upon. As 
the master of a ship may throw over the cargo in a storm, 
or one may walk over another man's grounds in an emer- 
gency, so when there is sufficient occasion the King may 
dispense with the law. ' Can government,' it was boldly 
asked, ' be without arbitrary government ? ' On the other 
side the distinction advanced was utterly repudiated. 
Granting that the King had power to pardon crime in 
individual cases, he had none to license crime by dis- 
pensing with law. The Declaration broke through no 
fewer than forty Acts of Parliament, repealable by Par- 
liament alone. The debate closed with a vote, carried 
by 168 to 116, that ' Penal statutes in matters ecclesias- 
tical cannot be suspended but by Act of Parliament.' 

Beyond the challenge thus thrown down to the King, 
the debate was important as showing the distance trav- 
elled by public opinion since the passing 
of the second Conventicle Act. A sugges- Protestant 

-,,-1 ii Dissenters. 

tion that the House itself should prepare a 
bill 'for the ease of His Majesty's Protestant subjects that 
are Dissenters ' was unanimously adopted. The Anglican 
furor had evidently to a great extent passed away. The 
Commons were no longer on their defence against Pro- 
testant dissent, but were engaged in providing that the 
Church of England should not be 'devoured by Papists.' 
The vote of February 8 had been followed by an 
address to the King. Obtaining from him only an evasive 
request that the Commons would themselves prepare a 
bill in the same sense as the Declaration, 

Attack on 

they pressed ' for a full and satisfactory the 
answer;' and enforced their demand by a 
vote (February 28) that no one refusing the oaths or the 
sacrament according to the Anglican rites should be capa- 



232 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1673. 

ble of holding any office under the Crown. Charles here- 
upon appealed to the Lords for their advice. They coldly 
replied that his previous answer referring the question to 
the Commons ' in a parliamentary way ' was ' good and 
gracious.' On March 7 they joined the Lower House in 
desiring the King at once to order all Jesuits and Catho- 
lic priests, except those in attendance on the Queen and 
the foreign ambassadors, to leave the kingdom within 
thirty days ; to instruct the justices to execute the penal 
laws against them with all rigour ; and to call upon all 
officers and soldiers at once to take the oaths and receive 
the sacrament. Pressed to yield by his ministers, who 
Ch . were becoming alarmed for their own safety, 

cancels the by Louis, who saw that unless supplies were 
March granted his ally must necessarily make 

l6?3 ' peace, and by the female favourites, whose 

sources of wealth were endangered, Charles on March 8 
cancelled the Declaration to which only a month before 
he had declared his fixed resolve to adhere. 

The concession was too tardy. The Commons were 
anxious to put an end to the Catholic Question. A bill 
for a Test Act, suggested by Arlington to destroy Clifford, 
had already been before them. On March 12 it was read 
a third time. In the interval it had been pointed out that 
if passed in the terms of the vote of February 28 it might 
be inoperative for its purpose, since the Pope could grant 
dispensation to take the oaths and even to receive the 
Passing of Anglican sacrament. He was however pre- 

Act, 1 March eluded from any such step regarding cardi- 
2 9> ^3. na i matters of faith. The Act therefore was 

framed to include an explicit denial of the doctrine of 
Transubstantiation. In the Lords, in spite of the pas- 
sionate resistance of the greater part of the Catholic 
peers under the leadership of Clifford, who broke out 



1673. The Parliamentary Conflict in England. 233 

upon it as ' monstrum, horrendum, ingens,' it passed by 
a large majority. On March 29 it received the royal 
assent. Only then did the Commons pass the Subsidy 
Bill. 

Parliament had at last won the victory for which it 
had been striving since the Restoration. James, to the 
great loss of the nation, resigned his post of Lord High 
Admiral. The second part of Clifford's horoscope was 
now fulfilled. He laid down the Treasurer's staff, went 
into strict retirement, and shortly died — it was reported by 
his own hand — of the disappointment of his hopes. The 
Cabal was shattered, and from this moment The CabaI 
Charles abandoned all attempt to secure shattered, 
favour for the proscribed creed. The influence of James 
however was sufficient to secure the nomination of Sir 
Thomas Osborne, soon created Earl of Danby, to succeed 
Clifford as Lord Treasurer — an appointment which turned 
Arlington, who thus suffered a second rebuff, into a keen 
though concealed opponent of the Government. 

Meanwhile the bill for the ease of Protestant Dissent- 
ers had been read a third time in the Commons. Diffi- 
culties arose only at the last moment. In the T . , 

J Loss of the 

Lords the Bishops opposed it with vehemence, bill for the 

, . . i r^ ea se of 

and secured its return to the Commons Protestant 
clogged with unacceptable amendments. By Dissenters, 
passing the Bill of Supply the Commons had lost their 
hold on events. Charles, though honestly anxious to see 
the measure become law, adjourned the Parliament, and 
the bill was for the time lost. 



234 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1674. 

2. Refusal of Supplies. Shaftesbury in Opposition. 

Peace with the Dutch. October 20, 1673-FEBRu- 

ary 24, 1674. 
The very fact that precautions had been taken against 
the Catholics appeared to increase the general alarm. 
Much had indeed taken place during the recess to 
Causes of justify this feeling. The Test Act had been 

fn'parliT- 1 largely evaded, and the ' flaunting of Pa- 

mem. pi s t s ' in Whitehall was evident to all. 

Louis's demand for the establishment of Catholic 
churches in the conquered Dutch towns had roused the 
Protestant feeling of Englishmen to the utmost; while the 
national jealousy of France had been excited to fever 
pitch by the belief that the conduct of Estrees, who both 
in the last battle and in that of Solebay had avoided giv- 
ing any effective assistance, had been prompted by the 
desire of Louis to see the two great naval powers destroy 
each other's strength. Rupert, in his conviction that this 
was the case, had become the leader of a vehement anti- 
French party. Then there was the standing army, under 
the command of Schomberg, a Frenchman, though a 
Protestant, with a declared Catholic second in com- 
mand; and, lastly, the marriage of James to the Princess 
of Modena — a marriage known to have been arranged 
in deference to the personal wishes of Louis — not only 
opened up the prospect of a long Catholic succession t 
but expressed in a definite form the alliance of the court 
with the French and Catholic cause. When therefore 
Parliament met in October, 1673, it was in a fighting 
mood. The silencing of some leading members of the 
old Opposition by the personal influence of the King 
could avail but little against the rising tide of passion. 
The most influential members of the country party rose 
one after another to urge the House to refuse a supply 



1 674. The Parliamentary Conflict in England. 235 

until their grievances had been redressed. ' Here is 
money asked of us,' said Lord Cavendish, ' to carry on a 
war we were never advised about ; and what we have 
given is turned to raising of families and not paying the 
King's debts.' Lord Cornbury, Clarendon's eldest son, 
had ' begged for the King, and wanted for him, and 
would willingly do it again:' but he too was for refusing 
supply. ' Do this,' said another, ' and we may deliver 
ourselves both from France and Rome.' A Refusal of 
vote was accordingly carried to refuse any * S Kvil ieS * 
supply before the end of the eighteen months' counsellors.' 
assessment, unless the obstinacy of the Dutch should 
render it necessary, and before the dangers from Popish 
counsels, and other grievances, had been removed. Of 
these grievances the standing army was first named. The 
member who declared that these forces had not been 
raised for the war, but the war made for raising the 
forces, expressed the general belief. Passing then to 
'evil counsellors,' they had just uttered Lauderdale's 
name when they were prorogued until January 7. 

When the King again faced Parliament he no longer 
asked for money to continue the war, but to secure peace. 
And this time he did not hesitate, at the in- Falsehood of 
stance of Louis, to meet the great council of Charles. 
the nation with a gross and deliberate lie. To remove 
their suspicions he would lay his treaties with France, 
and all the articles of them, without the least reserve, 
before a small committee of both Houses ; and he added, 
' I assure you there is no other treaty with France, either 
before or since, which shall not be made known.' The 
treaty which was shown was however the second Treaty 
of Dover, of December 1670, which, in order the better 
to deceive Parliament, had been executed-afresh as late 
as February 1672. The original treaty of June I, 1670, 



236 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1674. 

with the article providing for the announcement of the 
King's conversion and the subsidy from Louis for that 
purpose, was carefully concealed. The speech, we learn 
from Lord Conway, who was behind the scenes, was pro- 
duced * by the consultations of many days and nights ' ; 
and we are told that ' the King fumbled in delivering it, 
and made it worse than in the print.' 

The fraud availed little. The Houses went steadily 
on with the work which had been interrupted. They 
were now under guidance which rendered them doubly 
Shaftesbu formidable. Shaftesbury had during the 

dismissed; recess been dismissed. Since the cancel- 

hencefor- ri-r^i • t ■ ■ 

ward in ling of the Declaration his sympathies had 

opposition. never been with the comt p robably he 

had been told by the disappointed Arlington the true 
story of the Dover Treaty ; and the vexation of one who 
thought himself a master of intrigue at having so long 
been a dupe, would of itself be enough to account for 
the immediate change in his attitude after the prorogation. 
In the Lords he organised a regular opposition, the 
members of which met frequently to arrange the plan of 
attack. On the day after the King's speech he carried 
an address for the banishment from London of all 
Papists or reputed Papists, not householders or in 
attendance on peers. The dread of a Catholic succes- 
. . „ , sion, henceforward his watchword, was ex- 

Anti-Latno- 

lic excite- pressed in a vote to prepare a bill for the 

education of the royal children as Protestants, 
and for securing all future marriages in the royal line 
with Protestants under the penalty of exclusion. Provi- 
sions equally drastic were inserted in the proposed bill 
for the education of the children of Catholic peers ; the 
practice of sending them to Catholic schools on the Con- 
tinent was especially to be prohibited. 



1 674. The Parliamentary Conflict in England. 237 

In the Commons there arose a renewed outcry against 
'evil counsellors,' which on January 13, 1674, took a 
definite shape in an address to the King to remove 
Lauderdale and Buckingham from all their 

Attack on 

employments and from his presence and Lauderdale, 

f. • 1 r • i Bucking- 

COUnClls forever. Articles of impeachment h am, and 

were then proposed against Arlington, the Arlington. 
' great conduit-pipe ' of all the previous actions of the 
government. His defence however was so able, and his 
friends so numerous and earnest, since it was under- 
stood that he was now out of favour, that he secured a 
majority of 166 to 127. 

It was at this point that Charles announced that terms 
of peace had been made to him by the Dutch which he 
could accept. Parliament eagerly welcomed the close of 
the ill-starred war, and the Treaty of London (see p. 228) 
was signed on February 19. The King Failure of 
now, unable to extract a farthing from the Charles to 

_ , £ . . , get money 

Commons, put an end to the session, and so f rom p ar n a - 
to all progress with the attacks from both ment - 
Lords and Commons. The House did not however sepa- 
rate (February 24) until the Habeas Corpus Bill, with its 
extended provisions against arbitrary rule, though it 
did not pass the Lords, had secured a permanent place 
in men's minds by passing all its stages in the Commons, 
and until an address had been sent up praying for the 
disbanding of all troops raised since January 1, 1663. 
The course of affairs in the recess was to be determined 
by events on the Continent. 



238 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1674. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

LOUIS : WILLIAM : CHARLES ; PARLIAMENT. 
1674-1677. 

i. Campaign of 1674. 
The campaign of 1674 displayed the advantages pos- 
sessed by a single power ably led against a coalition, 
however extensive. Louis, as usual, was beforehand 
with his foes. While Turenne and Conde held the 
Upper Rhine and the Spanish Low Countries, and 
Schomberg faced the Spaniards in Rous- 

Conquest of . 

Franche sillon, Louis himself invaded Franche 

Comte, and in less than two months once 
more carried the French frontier on the east to its 
natural barrier, the Jura mountains. Conde meanwhile 
Conde in confronted the superior forces of William on 

Balde^f' the Meuse and tne Sambre. He cautiously 

Seneff, bided his time until the Prince, unable to 

August 11, . . 

1674. induce him to give battle, began to with- 

draw his troops ; then he dashed at the rearguard, 
routed it at Seneff, and captured the whole baggage train. 
A second and a third attack failed to dislodge William's 
main body from the strong position which he held ; and 
three days of terrible carnage — no fewer than 25,000 
men were left dead or dying on the field — ended with no 
decisive advantage. The campaign in the Low Countries 
closed with the loss to France of only Dinant and Huy 
on the Meuse, and Grave. 

The fighting on the Rhine displayed more than ever 
the superiority of Turenne's generalship. With greatly 
inferior forces he met the imperialists at Sinsheim (June 




the / 

MPAIGNS ON THE UPPER 
RHINE. 

SCALE OF ENGLISH MILES 



Turenne'8 march, Nov. 20th, 1674; Jan. 10th, 
1075, shuicn thus m > 



238 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1674. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

LOUIS : WILLIAM : CHARLES : PARLIAMENT. 

1674-1677. 

i. Campaign of 1674. 
The campaign of 1674 displayed the advantages pos- 
sessed by a single power ably led against a coalition, 
however extensive. Louis, as usual, was beforehand 
with his foes. While Turenne and Conde held the 
Upper Rhine and the Spanish Low Countries, and 
Schomberg faced the Spaniards in Rous- 

Conquest of ° r 

Franche sillon, Louis himself invaded Franche 

Comte, and in less than two months once 
more carried the French frontier on the east to its 
natural barrier, the Jura mountains. Conde meanwhile 
Conde in confronted the superior forces of William on 

Battfetf' the Meuse and the Sambre. He cautiously 

Seneff, bided his time until the Prince, unable to 

August 11, . 

1674. induce him to give battle, began to with- 

draw his troops ; then he dashed at the rearguard, 
routed it at Seneff, and captured the whole baggage train. 
A second and a third attack failed to dislodge William's 
main body from the strong position which he held ; and 
three days of terrible carnage — no fewer than 25,000 
men were left dead or dying on the field — ended with no 
decisive advantage. The campaign in the Low Countries 
closed with the loss to France of only Dinant and Huy 
on the Meuse, and Grave. 

The fighting on the Rhine displayed more than ever 
the superiority of Turenne's generalship. With greatly 
inferior forces he met the imperialists at Sinsheim (June 



1 674. Louis: William: Charles: Parliament. 239 

16), between the Rhine and the Necker, and drove them 
back across the latter river. Then followed, during July 
and August, the first of the terrible ' wastings ' Turenne on 
of the Palatinate on both sides of the Rhine. the Rhine ' 
Turenne was determined that the enemy should find 
no subsistence there, and he made the whole land a 
desert. Strongly reinforced, the imperialists again crossed 
at Mayence, and marched up the left bank to Spire ; 
there, finding Turenne prepared to defend Lower Alsace, 
they recrossed, and reached Strassburg just in time to 
anticipate him, as he came with all haste by the other 
bank. Having effected a junction with a fresh army 
brought up by the Grand Elector, they prepared to chase 
him out of Alsace. The emergency called out all Tu- 
renne's powers. With splendid confidence he promised 
Louis that, if fully supported, he would by the end of 
the year drive the enemy beyond the Rhine. The 
redemption of his pledge forms one of the most memor- 
able feats of modern warfare. 

For a month, by a masterly use of his small force, he 
kept the enemy from penetrating the rough country 
which he held. On November 29 he suddenly carried 
his whole army across the Vosges to Lixheim, near 
Sarreburg, on the western side of the chain. He then, 
with the mountains as a screen between him and the 
enemy, rapidly traversed the whole line of the Vosges 
from north to south, picking up reinforcements on the 
way. At the southern end, where the chain bends 
sharply to the west, he divided his army into four bodies, 
and, keeping his ultimate plan profoundly The Vosges 
secret, sent them each by a separate route December 
back over the angle thus formed, with 1674. 
orders to rendezvous at Belfort on the eastern side, the 
famous bulwark of France which guards the gap between 



240 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1674. 

the Vosges and the Jura. So well was he obeyed that 
after three weeks' wrestling with all the difficulties of 
snow-covered and almost trackless mountains, he found 
himself at Belfort on December 27 with a wearied but 
eager army of 40,000 men. Without a day's delay he 
swept northward upon the unsuspecting foe, who, as he 
anticipated, had scattered themselves throughout Alsace 
when they learned his retreat; routed them at Mulhausen, 
drove a large body across the Swiss frontier, and on 
January 5 utterly defeated the Grand Elector at Colmar ; 
then, pushing on, chased the enemy before him in con- 
fusion to Strassburg. Panic-stricken, and quarrelling 
among themselves, they hurried across the river, and 
within a week from the battle of Colmar Turenne had 
fulfilled his promise. Not a German soldier remained 
on the French side of the Rhine. 

None the less, Louis was daily becoming more anxious 
to separate his enemies. With the Dutch he had good 
hopes, for they had now no direct interest in the war. 
Charles, on concluding his separate peace, had offered 
his mediation, and London again became the centre of 
diplomatic intrigue. 

2. William of Orange. Connection with England. 
His Power in the United Provinces. 
William was at this time exercising much influence 
upon English politics. In confidential communication 
with the Shaftesbury cabal, he had through them practi- 
cally driven Charles to make peace ; and he was not 
without hope that he might even oblige him to join the 
coalition against France. Up to the battle of Seneff 
therefore he had declined the English mediation. That 
event however, and the powerful movement which was 
arising at home for peace, changed his view. Concilia- 



1 674. Louis: William: Charles: Parliament. 241 

\ory letters passed between the uncle and nephew, and 
William suggested that he should visit the King in Lon- 
don. But Charles, to gratify Louis, coldly declined the 
proffered visit. He went still further. Though fully 
aware of the exasperation caused by the last three proro- 
gations, he determined on a fourth. He was resolved 
to be henceforth his own foreign minister; he had forced 
Arlington to sell his office of Secretary of State to Sir 
Joseph Williamson, who possessed no influ- „, ' , . 

J L x Charles his 

ence ; Buckingham had been thrown over on own foreign 
the ground of the late vote of the Commons ; ministe 
Danby, by virtue of his usefulness in finding money and 
in manufacturing votes had, under the protection of the 
Duchess of Portsmouth, the conduct of all home business, 
but of that alone. Concealing his intention even from 
him to the last moment, Charles announced to his silent 
and astounded council that Parliament would not meet 
for business until April 1675. 

The effect of this 'master-stroke,' as he deemed it, 
was immediate, but in a direction opposite to his hopes. 
William, in angry disappointment, at once 

,,ii r 1 • -i Prorogation 

gave up all thoughts of accommodation with of Pariia- 
France. He stayed all conciliatory action on ™ p e n n ' * 
the part of the States-General ; and induced w 'l liam - 
them to refuse the proposed suspension of arms at sea, 
and to demand not only the abrogation of the Peace of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, but even the enforcement of the con- 
ditions of that of the Pyrenees. 

This firmness, and the knowledge of William's influence 
in England, at once altered Charles's fickle resolutions. 
He made up his mind to bind the Prince to the interests 
of the Crown by a step which had long been discussed 
— a marriage with Mary, the eldest daughter of James. 

The first suggestion of this alliance had originally 
Q 



242 E?iglish Restoration and Louis XIV. 1674. 

been but one of several expressions of the anxiety which 
Suggested arose from the childlessness of the Queen. 

wm r iam e and The P ossibmt Y of Pitting forward Mon- 
Mary. mouth, his favourite son, as heir had been 

mentioned; while as early as 1669 Buckingham had 
urged a parliamentary divorce, and Shaftesbury when 
in office had supported the idea. Charles however, to 
his credit, never seriously entertained a proposal so inju- 
rious to his wife, nor did he give the slightest countenance 
to the scheme concerning Monmouth. Then came the 
second marriage of James, with its prospects of a Catholic 
succession should a son be born. Nobody at present 
seriously proposed the exclusion of James, and the alli- 
ance of William and Mary offered itself as a means of 
reconciling the doctrine of hereditary right with the 
abhorrence of a Catholic King. Charles had hitherto, 
in deference to Louis and James, rejected the idea. Now 
however, in spite of the remonstrances of the former, he 
despatched Arlington and Lord Ossory in November to 
the Hague, to secure, if possible, peace between France 
and the Dutch, and the betrothal of William to Mary. 
Peace it was soon found was impracticable 

William 

declines the on William s terms. As .to the marriage, it 
proposal. wag declined on two grounds. Another 

child was about to be born to James, and, if this were 
a boy, the eventual advantage to William of such a 
marriage would be slight; his friends in England, too, 
pressed him to refuse to associate himself with James in 
a way which must weaken his influence with themselves. 
William had meanwhile been strengthening and ex- 
tending his power at home. The election of 
the P ° W his adherent Fagel to succeed De Witt had 

Republic. - n a g reat measure secured the control of 

the States-General ; while, by obtaining the right of 



1 67 5. Louis: William: Charles: Parliament. 243 

nominating- the mayors of the towns, which had hitherto 
been expressly reserved to the towns themselves, he had 
largely annulled the republican constitution. His offices 
of Stadtholder, Captain and Admiral General for Holland 
and Friesland, had been made hereditary ; while Gueld- 
ers and Utrecht had, since the French conquest, been 
placed entirely under his control. Guelders indeed had 
offered him the sovereign name and power, and he was 
anxious to accept it. But, just as when war was at their 
gates the people had demanded a strong executive, so, 
when the danger was removed, the old jealousy of des- 
potism reasserted itself, and William was obliged by the 
general outcry to put aside the idea. 

In this state of affairs the approaching meeting of the 
English Parliament excited the attention of all Europe. 
For a while it was doubtful whether it would meet at all, 
since Louis had promised Charles another subsidy if he 
would dissolve, or even prorogue it for a year ; and he 
was warmlv supported by Tames for his own 

L x-v 1 L , , Danb y and 

reasons. But Danby offered the strongest Parliament; 
opposition. That able minister — the fore- remrrTto^he 
runner of Harleyin party management, and ci llcy H f 
of Walpole in parliamentary corruption — was 
sincerely opposed to the influence of France. He had 
shaped a bold policy of his own, which, if successful, would 
ruin the Shaftesbury cabal at a blow ; a return, namely, to 
the policy of Clarendon, a cordial union between Royalism 
and Anglicanism, in opposition to all forms of Noncon- 
formity and limitation of the prerogative. He had in- 
duced the King to publish during the recess a fresh body 
of edicts, framed in conference with the Bishops at Lam- 
beth, enforcing the penal laws, especially against the 
Catholics, and he had spared no efforts to win over indi- 
vidual members of the Commons. The last prorogation 



244 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1675. 

had, in his opinion, been a dangerous measure ; a disso- 
lution would throw the whole power into the hands of 
Shaftesbury and his friends. The navy meanwhile was 
rotting away for want of money which a Parliament alone 
could give. Charles accepted Danby's advice, the more 
readily as the development of English commerce had 
increased his annual revenue by 150,000/. The only 
promise he would give Louis was to dissolve Parliament 
should they insist on fixed times of meeting, attack 
either James or his ministers, or meddle with alliances 
or terms of peace. Louis fell back upon bribery. It 
was now that Parliament began to earn with justice the 
The 'Pen- name of the ' Pensionary Parliament.' Eng- 
sionary' lisli, French, Spanish, and Dutch money 

Parliamer>*. .. ' . , r ' _, . , , 

jingled in the same pockets. Ruvigny had 
10,000/. for direct bribery of members, with a large sum 
to enable him to keep a lavish table. The Spanish am- 
bassador came with full hands. Van Beuninghen took 
a house in Westminster and exercised splendid hospitality. 
The Danish resident had a grant from the Republic for 
the same object. The Shaftesbury Opposition were equally 
ready. Their leader, in a letter to Lord Carlisle, had 
sounded the note of attack. Danby was if possible to 
be overthrown, and a dissolution brought about. 

3. Parliament, April to June 1675. 
The Non- resisting Test. 
It was, then, with a frank return to the policy of Clar- 
endon that Charles and Danby met Parliament in April 
1675, and the Lambeth edicts were quoted as an earnest 
of the intention to regard the Church in its double 
aspect as a Protestant Church opposed to Popery and 
an established Church opposed to Dissent. Danby's 
wholesale corruption of the Commons had so far sue- 



1 67 5. Louis: William: Charles: Parliament. 245 

ceeded that he was enabled to defeat the vigorous attack, 
which was at once made upon him on the _ . , 

Partial 

ground of his arbitrary government of the success of 
exchequer and his lavish expenditure of an y ' 
public money for private and family ends. The court also 
scored a success in the rejection of a resolution incapaci- 
tating placemen from sitting in Parliament. So evenly 
however were parties balanced, and so exasperated had 
feeling become, that ii. was only after a scene of unparal- 
leled disorder following an even division, when blows 
were exchanged and, but for the promptitude of the 
Speaker, blood would undoubtedly have been shed on 
the floor of the House, that a resolution for an address 
to the King to recall the English troops in the French 
service was defeated by a single vote. From this point 
the Commons again became impracticable. 

The rapid progress of Louis in the Spanish Low 
Countries, and still more the growth of the French navy, 
roused such jealousy in England and threw such 
strength into the hands of the Opposition that Louis 
instructed Ruvigny to offer a truce, should it become 
necessary, to soothe this irritation. So pressed was 
Charles by his own people, by Spain, and by the 
Republic, to take measures for the defence of the 
Spanish Low Countries and to compel Louis to make 
peace, that he declared to Ruvigny that he was like a 
besieged fortress. The Commons took up their old posi- 
tion of regarding themselves as on guard against Popery 
and France, and they passed a resolution to consider no 
bills whatever except such as might come down from 
the Lords. 

Danby determined to make his great effort in the 
Upper House, where he was sure of a majority. The 
meaning of the conference at Lambeth was shown when 



246 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1675. 

he brought forward the famous • Non-resisting Test.' 
Non- It was proposed that no one should hold 

p e a S ss S ed g by St office or sit in either House unless he had 
the Lords. fi rs t taken the oath imposed on Nonconformist 
ministers by the Five Mile Act, to attempt no alteration 
in the government of Church or State. The object was 
to drive Catholic peers from the Lords and Presbyterian 
members from the Commons ; the Anglican clergy, the 
Parliament, and the executive would then form one 
dominant party, freed from all risks of opposition. It 
was understood that, if the Test were passed, the court 
would at once yield to the demands of Parliament as to 
foreign policy. 

Against every stage of this audacious measure the 
opposition lords, led with remarkable power by Shaftesbury, 
fought for fifteen days with persistent courage. They 
pointed out that, so far from the bill affording safeguards 
against Popery, any Papist might, as the oath was drawn, 
take it without hesitation, and they secured its amendment 
as follows : ' I will not endeavour the alteration of the 
Protestant religion, now established in the Church of 
England, or of the government of Church and State.' 
Whether the bill would have passed the Commons is 
doubtful. But parties were so equal in a matter in which 
neither France nor Popery was directly concerned that it 
was possible. That stage however was never reached. A 
Renewal of dispute suddenly sprang up between the two 
benveenThe Houses on the old question of the right of 

Houses on appeal to the Lords. That which had hap- 
right of rr r 
appeal to the pened in 1668 happened again. Neither 

House would give way an inch. Shaftesbury 
exerted himself to the utmost to make reconciliation im- 
possible. The dispute absorbed the whole attention of 
both Houses, and there was no opportunity for introducing 



1 67 5. Lotas: William: Charles: Parliament. 247 

the bill in the Commons. Danby was thus at the outset 
completely baffled, and Charles was com- Danby 
pelled in June to prorogue the Parliament baffl e<*. 
until October. When it again met the situation was pro- 
foundly modified by events on the Continent, which more 
than ever made it necessary for Louis to secure the 
neutrality of England. 

4. Reverses of Louis in 1675. Secret Treaty with 
Charles II. 

In the spring and early summer of 1675, Louis, always 
beforehand, had captured Liege and Limbourg, and had 
recovered Dinant, Huy, and Givet. The line of the 
Meuse was thus secured from the French frontier to 
Maestricht, while that of the Moselle was blocked by the 
possession of Treves. The junction of the imperialists 
with the Spaniards was now therefore fully guarded 
against. Turenne faced Montecuculi in Alsace. By com- 
pelling Strassburg to keep its neutrality, and therefore to 
refuse the imperialists a passage across the Rhine, he 
forced them to pass into Lower Alsace at Spire. He then 
threw a bridge over the river a little below Strassburg and 
marched along the right bank into the Pala- Turenne's 
tinate, thus getting to Montecuculi's rear. successes. 
His antagonist at once recrossed to contest the country 
between the Rhine and the Necker, where Turenne had 
won his former victory at Sinsheim. After six weeks' 
manoeuvring Turenne took the offensive, intending to 
drive Montecuculi behind the Black Forest. In July he 
succeeded in cutting his line, and thus obliged him to 
leave the valley of the Rhine and retreat to Sasbach, on 
the slopes of the Black Forest, to the east of Strassburg. 
Here Turenne came up with him. As he was visiting his 
outposts before the attack he was heard to utter one of his 



248 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1675 

rare expressions of confidence : 'I have them now,' ha 
His death at exclaimed: ' they shall not escape me again.' 
July a?' Hardly were the words out of his lips when 

l6 75- a chance shot struck him in the breast, and 

the great commander fell dead. 

The effect ot this blow was for the moment disastrous 
to France. Montecuculi at once took the offensive. The 
Retreat of French retreated in disorder to the Rhine, 
the French. but turne( i to j^y at Altenheim, and fought so 
desperately that the imperialists left 5,000 men dead on 
the field. They then crossed the river hurriedly at 
Schelestadt, while Montecuculi passed at Strassburg and 
laid siege to Haguenau and Savern, the fall of which 
would have entailed that of Philippsburg. But Conde 
flew to the rescue, and these fortresses were preserved. 
So skilful were his operations that before the end of the 
year the allies had abandoned Alsace and recrossed the 
Rhine. It was his last exploit. Weary of action, he re- 
tired at the end of the campaign to a country life in his 
own domains. 

Meanwhile disaster had happened on the Moselle. 
Crequy had been utterly beaten before Treves by the 
Defeat of °ld Duke of Lorraine on September 3, and 

cip?u U reof d Treves itself had been captured after a 
Treves by desperate defence. The Swedes too, who 

the allies, 

September had at length entered Brandenburg, had 
been thoroughly beaten (June 18) by the 
Grand Elector, and forced to retreat to Mecklenburg. 
Their evil fortune had followed them at sea. The Dutch 
and Danish fleets had inflicted upon them a crushing 
defeat in the Baltic, which led to the loss of the posses- 
sions which they had acquired in North Germany by the 
Peace of Westphalia. 

It was now Louis whose thoughts were turned towards 



1 67 5. Lotas: William: Charles: Parliament. 249 

peace. The state of his own kingdom impelled him in 
the same direction. The drain of war and 

Distress in 

diplomacy had exhausted the treasure which France; 
Colbert had collected, while general discon- anxious for 
tent was once more spreading among the P eace - 
overburdened peasantry ; armed revolt had even broken 
out in Brittany, and in Bordeaux, the old centre of turbu- 
lence. Ruvigny redoubled his efforts in England to 
secure a French party. But a French party, as such, he 
found it impossible to secure : on the contrary, it was 
clear that the next session would be of a vehemently anti- 
French character, especially as Danby himself had no 
love for France. It could be only by assisting one or the 
other side in the domestic struggle that Louis could hope 
to neutralise this spirit. He therefore applied to Shaftes- 
bury and his friends. Their terms were simple. If Louis 
would help them to overthrow Danby and secure liberty 
of conscience for Protestants, they would withdraw their 
opposition to his schemes. This explains those closetings 
of Shaftesbury with lames which so puzzled 

1 • , •■ • , , i- i 1 Alliance of 

people at the time, and which established Louis and 
against Danby a coalition of the Noncon- Shaftesbury 
formists, the Catholics, and Louis. James Opp° sition - 
received 20,000/. for distribution at the end of the session 
on condition that the English troops were not recalled nor 
any vote passed hostile to France. 

But Louis was bent on a still surer way of securing the 
inaction of England. More than ever he pressed upon 
Charles through the potent influence of 

r ° r . . Engagement 

Louise de Keroualle the necessity of being of Charles 
free of the control of Parliament. By Au- 
gust 19 he had drawn from him, by promise of 100,000/. 
a year, an engagement to dissolve his Parliament if it 



250 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1675. 

were still violent against France or refused to provide 
him with money. Thus on both sides he was safe. 

He soon had cause to congratulate himself on his pre- 
cautions. When Parliament met, October 13, 1675, the 
„ ,. request for supplies to pay the debts of the 

Parliament n rr , r ' 

refuse Crown and to build ships was listened to 

October' with an ominous silence. The reply when 

l6?5 - it came was a bill to incapacitate any one 

from sitting in either House without taking an oath 
against Popery, and an absolute refusal to pay the debts. 
In view indeed of the daily growing strength of the 
French at sea a large addition of ships was voted ; but 
the intense distrust of the King was shown by the fact 
that, besides the usual appropriation clause being passed, 
a proposal to lodge the money, not as usual in the Ex- 
chequer, but in the hands of the Council of the City of 
London, was lost by only seven votes. 

Meanwhile the Opposition, under Shaftesbury's leader- 
ship, hopeless of overthrowing Danby so long as the 
present Parliament continued, consisting as it did largely 
Unsuccess- °f men dependent on his bounty, was press- 
fui proposals j n g [ n k ot h Houses for the dissolution which 

for a ° 

dissolution. Louis was urging directly on Charles. But 
the present members, especially those elected during 
the reaction at the beginning of the reign, had all to lose 
and nothing to gain by the proposal, and no division 
was taken ; in the Lords, where James and the Catholic 
peers supported it, it was lost by two votes only. Foiled 
in this attempt, Shaftesbury determined to gain his ends 
by rendering business impossible. It was easy to do this 
by raising the former dispute on the subject of appeals to 
the Lords. It at once became manifest that nothing else 
would be looked at until the Lords yielded, and Shaftes- 



1 67 5. Louis: William: Charles: Parliament. 25 1 

bury took care that they should not yield. Charles was 
forced to close the session. But he bitterly Parliament 
disappointed Shaftesbury and his friends. P ror °s ued - 
The practical certainty that a new Parliament would 
consist of men still more vehemently opposed to the pre- 
rogative again won the day. Instead of dissolving, he 
prorogued Parliament for fifteen months, to February 
1677. He then, with cool audacity, demanded his sub- 
sidy from Louis. This had been promised for a disso- 
lution only. But to Louis, as has been seen, English 
neutrality was now more than ever essential. That neu- 
trality was safe if he could keep Charles dependent on 
him for these fifteen months. How accurately Danby 
had gauged the situation is shown by the fact that Ru- 
vigny was informed that the money had been already 
entered in the English estimates for the Second 
coming year. Louis gave way without hesi- engagement 

.... . r with Louis. 

tation. He was rewarded when, in spite 01 
all that Danby could do, Charles further consented to 
an agreement that neither monarch should listen to any 
proposition from abroad contrary to the other's welfare, 
or make a treaty with the Dutch or any other State 
except by mutual consent. The meaning of this latter 
clause was that Charles was afraid lest the Dutch, by an 
alliance with Louis, might become supreme at sea ; and 
that Louis dreaded an alliance of England and the Re- 
public against himself. Danby, though he took part in 
the negotiation, utterly refused to sign it, declaring that 
his head would not be safe. The King was obliged to 
write out and sign the treaty with his own hands. 

The dishonesty of this transaction was flagrant. Ever 
since his separate peace with the Dutch in Congress at 
1674, Charles had been posing as an impartial 
mediator in the great European quarrel, and his repre- 



252 Ejiglish Restoration and Louis XIV. 1676. 

sentatives, of whom Temple was one, were already at 
Nimwegen, the town selected for the negotiation. Various 
causes delayed the arrival of their French colleagues 
until June 1676. Even then the conference was not com- 
plete. The allies were waiting to see what would be the 
result of the year's campaign. 

5. Campaign of 1676. 
The fighting of 1676 was more remarkable by sea than 
by land. The care bestowed on the French navy by 
The French Co lt> ert and Lionne, and the inducements to 
fleet; the noblesse to enter the sea service, had 

inX eSn borne noble fruit. In Duquesne France had 

terranean. an mtr epid and skilful leader. In 1675 he na d 

beaten the Spaniards at Messina, and had 
since been riding triumphant in the Mediterranean. At 
length a greater adversary, Ruyter, with a powerful 
Dutch fleet, appeared. Duquesne undauntedly faced the 
renowned sea-king. On January 8 and April 22, 1676, 
he fought two fierce but indecisive contests. The latter 
however brought upon the Dutch irremediable disaster. 
Ruyter, the saviour of the Republic, even more to it than 
Turenne had been to France, was slain, and he left no 
„ , one to take his place. With him passed 

Battles \ . . , 

with the away the last of the great antagonists with 

andrjutch. whose names we have become familiar. 
Ruvter° f Turenne and Conde, Tromp and Ruyter, 

April 22, Monk and Rupert, Lionne and De Witt, all 

have gone, and those who have taken their 
places are smaller men. In June Duquesne again at- 
tacked the Dutch and Spanish fleets in the Bay of Pal- 
ermo, and this time won a complete victory. The French 
remained masters of Sicily. 

On land (May 1676) Louis, with the aid of Vauban, 



1676. Louis: William: Charles: Parliament. 253 

captured the towns of Conde and Bouchain ; he then re- 
turned to St. Germain, leaving Schomberg in Flanders 
and Luxemburg in Alsace. The latter however was 
unable to prevent the imperialists from laying siege to 
Philippsburg. 

Almost every one now desired peace. The Republic 
was exhausted ; the death of Ruyter had caused deep 
discouragement ; and there was bad blood Demand for 
between the Dutch and the Spaniards— that United" the 
' cursed race,' as William did not hesitate to Provinces, 
call them. The failure of William in July to capture 
Maestricht on the one side, and the failure of Louis 
to preserve Philippsburg (September 8) on the other, 
joined to the rising tide of passion in England, all tended 
to strengthen the peace influences. Louis now offered to 
William, for a separate peace, terms which appealed at 
once to his personal and national pride ; he was to have 
the sovereignty of Maestricht and Limburg ; the southern 
boundary of the United Provinces was to be moved so 
that, starting at Ostend and passing by Ghent to Maes- 
tricht, it should include Antwerp. Safeguards were to be 
given against future attack ; and William was to be sup- 
ported by France in extending his authority over the Re- 
public. For a while, but only for a while, William wav- 
ered in his loyalty to his allies ; he then uncompromis- 
ingly declined the proposals. The coalition William 
against Louis was anticipating decisive sue- refuses 
cesses in the next campaign, though the offers, 
congress at Nimwegen was sitting. A great council had 
been called at Wesel to arrange the plan of campaign, 
for which vast preparations were being made. But that 
upon which they most rested their hopes was the English 
Parliament. 



254 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1677. 

6. The War and Parliament, 1677. 

Necessity had again brought Charles (February 25, 
1677) to face the Commons. So low had his credit sunk 
that he had been unable to raise a loan in London ; while 
Danby promised him that, if he would break with France, 
supplies far exceeding what Louis could offer would be 
forthcoming. Louis could only take all the precautions 
in his power. By an ordinance forbidding the seizure of 
English vessels, which the Dutch, to evade the liabilities 
of war, were employing to carry their goods, he concili- 
Louis ated, on the eve of the session, the good-will 

the London °^ t ^ ie London merchants, whose influence 
merchants. was vas t; and w hose opposition had been 
passionate. He sent to Courtin, the new French ambassa- 
dor at London, 80,000/. for bribery, and he renewed his 
alliance with the Whig lords, James, and the Noncon- 
formists, to oppose Danby and secure a dissolution. 
Courtin was ordered to give Charles no rest ; every day 
he was at Whitehall, and he never left the court until 
eleven at night. Well might Charles declare that he was 
like a besieged place. 

A blunder of the Whigs gave Danby at the outset a 
great advantage. Resting their case upon a statute of 
Edward III. which prescribed annual Parliaments, they 
maintained that by the prorogation for fifteen months 
the present House had ceased to exist. It was easily 
shown that the statute did not apply, and that it had 
been virtually repealed by the Triennial Act. In the 
Commons the motion raised vehement opposition, for the 
old reasons. The enemies of Danby appeared now as 
the enemies of Parliament too. The result was an im- 
Danby's mediate triumph for the minister. The 

successes. Lords declared that Buckingham, Shaftes- 

bury, Salisbury, and Wharton, the chief movers, must 



1 67 7. Louis: William: Charles: Parliament. 255 

ask pardon of the House. On their refusal they were 
sent to the Tower, and were thus excluded for the time 
from influencing the course of affairs. 

Danby at once took advantage of this momentary eddy 
in the political current. With the help of all the moderate 
men he carried an unconditional vote for 600,000/. He 
next, to quiet the anti-Catholic feeling, brought in a bill 
for better securing the Protestant religion in Bill for 
case of a Catholic succession. Drastic as its securing 

.Protestant 

provisions were, the mere fact that it appeared religion, 
to sanction a Catholic succession was enough to cause it 
to be regarded as a bill for the protection of Popery, and, 
as such, to awake so much jealousy that it never passed 
its second reading in the Commons. Besides, feeling was 
at the moment turned into its old channel by the alarm- 
ing progress of Louis, who during March and April had 
stormed Valenciennes, the strongest fortress Capture of 
on the Scheldt, and captured Cambrai and Vaien- 

r ciennes. 

St. Omer ; while his brother, the Duke of Defeat of 
Orleans, had inflicted upon William, who Cassei, 
had marched to relieve St. Omer, a disastrous A P ril » l6 >7- 
defeat at Cassel on April 11. Louis's ally, Charles XI. 
of Sweden, had in the previous December gained a great 
victory over Christian V. of Denmark at Lunden. 

Parliament was deeply moved by these tidings. A 
unanimous address was at once sent by both Houses to 
the King praying for the recall of the English Charles 
troops serving with France. A second ad- urged by 

1 ivyr 1 ^ 1 a -i 1 Parliament 

dress on March 26, repeated on April 5, urged to instant 
him to declare war against France, with offers 
of unlimited support. As Courtin informed Louis, the 
English would give everything for a war with France, 
' even to their shirts.' Charles was far from sharing their 
sentiments. To him every defeat of William was grate- 



256 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1677. 

ful, not only as bringing peace nearer, but as weakening 
the Prince's dangerous influence. 

But, indomitable under defeat, William was as far from 
yielding as ever. His personal ascendancy had com- 
pelled the support of the States-General. He 

Fersever- r x L 

ance of had reorganised his army after the rout of 

Cassel. In July he marched with 50,000 men 
upon Charleroi, hoping to be joined by the Duke of Lor- 
raine, and intending after its capture to advance right 
into France. On August 6 he was before the town. But 
he had not yet served his apprenticeship in misfortune. 
The French were vigilant and active as ever. Louvois, 
' the greatest quartermaster ever known,' flew to Lille ; Lux- 
emburg got to William's rear and so threatened him that he 
had to raise the siege and repass the Sambre with nothing 
but the recapture of Link to show for his labour and loss. 
The Duke of Lorraine had fared yet worse at the hands 
of Crequy. Leaving a strong force to oppose the Duke of 
Crequy's Saxe-Eisenach, who had crossed by Philipps- 

clmpaSnon burg into Alsace, this great pupil of Turenne 
the Rhine. s0 h arasse d Lorraine by skilful manoeuv- 
ring and vehement attack, that from Mouzon he drove 
him back upon the Rhine. Still following, he placed 
himself between his enemy and Alsace. Leaving him 
awhile, he turned upon Saxe-Eisenach, forced him to 
take refuge on an island on the Rhine, and there to 
capitulate. Without delay he returned upon Lorraine, 
who had placed his troops in winter quarters, passed the 
Rhine on November 8, and, before the Duke could move, 
invested and captured the coveted post of Freiburg. 
D'Humieres, between the sea and the Scheldt, had 
taken St. Ghislain, and Louis, after a campaign to which 
the allies had looked as decisive, saw his arms every- 
where triumphant. 



1 6J7 . Louis: William: Charles: Parliament. 257 

William's position became continually more difficult. 
He was now the mark for universal abuse. Never, it was 
said, had there been a commander who had 

' The Dutch 

lost so many battles and failed in so many desire 
sieges. The foreign officers in the Dutch P eace - 
service contemptuously threw up their commissions. 
The peace party in the Republic was daily becoming 
more confident, and he thought it best not to appear at 
the Hague. His position was now saved by Louis him- 
self. The Dutch were indeed anxious for peace. But 
no peace would be grateful which did not secure their 
great interest, commerce. Louis was asked if he would 
grant the repeal of all the hostile tariffs since 1662, and 
a satisfactory barrier to the Spanish Low Countries. He 
refused. Negotiations at once ceased. The States- 
General voted a large increase of the army. They with- 
drew a demand they had made upon 
William for an account of the supplies against 

, „ ... . peace. 

previously given. Still more important was 
it that, when he announced an intention of visiting 
Charles at London, they gave him full powers to treat in 
the name of the Republic. 

When Parliament reassembled after a short adjourn- 
ment on May 31, 1677, the Commons at once declared, 
in answer to the King's demand for money to secure his 
alliances, that they would give no money for alliances 
which were not first placed before them. 
This was a new departure of a most pigment 
serious kind. Foreign alliances bevond to control 

o ' foreign 

everything else had hitherto been regarded alliances, 
as the prerogative of the Crown, and Parlia- 
ment, while exercising much influence upon them, had 
made no direct assertion of right. For Charles to give 
way weald have been to confess his utter defeat in the 

R 



258 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1677. 

running fight for the prerogative which is so important a 
factor of the history of the reign. He refused to enter- 
tain the claim for a moment, and ordered the Houses to 
adjourn themselves, giving them to understand that they 
would not sit until winter. 

But this adjournment left him penniless and perplexed. 
Money must be got somehow. There were two ways of 
obtaining it from Parliament — by securing a peace on 
the Continent satisfactory to the allies, or by declaring 
war against France. His efforts in the former direction 
soon proved abortive, for since the triumphs of the last 
campaign Louis was less than ever disposed to be 
moderate. But Charles refused to yield to Danby's 
pressure to declare war against France. He could use the 
English feeling to more profit than by embarking in a 
struggle which would simply place him more and more in 
dependence on Parliament. He had simply to take 
another step on the familiar road ; for so long as the war 
lasted, and the temper of Parliament remained the 
same, he had an article saleable to France. 

Distress of 

Charles. Danby, when overruled on the main ques- 

secret tion, proved himself a firm and audacious 

Louis W bargain-driver. He demanded from Louis 

July i6 77 . (July 1677) 1,600,000/. For this he promised 

that Parliament should not meet until May, 1678, and 
that, to discourage the allies, they should be informed of 
his intention. Charles was thus able to carry on the 
ordinary expenses of government, and Louis gained the 
prospect of nine months' freedom from English interfer- 
ence in the negotiations at Nimwegen. 



i677- The Peace °f Nimwegen. 259 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE PEACE OF NIMWEGEN. 

1. Marriage of William and Mary. Effect on 
English Policy. 
It was at this moment that William came to England, on 
Charles's invitation. In spite of the fact that nothing 
could be less in keeping with the latter' s engagements to 
Louis, the time seemed opportune for reviving the scheme 
of the Prince's marriage with Mary. Charles Reasons for 
hoped that William would feel the interests *w?mam gC 
of the Crown to be directly his own, and and Mal T- 
would thus be led to support them against his present 
friends among the Whigs. James believed that the mar- 
riage would disarm the violence of the Opposition to his 
own accession, which as the anti-Catholic spirit rose was 
daily becoming keener, by enabling men to look past 
himself to a Protestant consort of the future Queen. 
William felt that the close connection with the English 
royal house must strengthen him against both his foreign 
and domestic troubles, besides giving him a hold upon 
English foreign policy. The wooing was therefore a 
short one, especially as it was advisable to give Louis no 
time for remonstrance. On November 3 bonfires were 
blazing in the streets of London in honour of the be- 
trothal, and on the 1 5th the marriage took place. 

The new influence was at once felt. The feeble reso- 
lutions of Charles were shaped by the firm will of the 



younger man ; and on November 22 fresh Fresh pro- 
conditions of peace, which had emanated JS^d by 
directly from William, were secretly proposed Louis - 
to Louis. Of all his conquests, Franche Comte alone, 



260 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1678. 

with Cambrai, Aire, and St. Omer, were to remain in his 
hands. The fortifications of Philippsburg were to be razed ; 
the Duke of Lorraine was to be restored to the full pos- 
session of his estates. Vague promises were made to 
satisfy Louis's ally, Sweden, and he was to retain Mes- 
sina until that was done. It was not to be expected that 
Louis, in the very flush of his triumph, should accept 
terms which would rob him of the north-eastern frontier, 
which had so long been the object of French ambition. 
' Rather than that,' he wrote to Courtin, ' I would risk 
losing my own towns, if my enemies, which is not likely, 
were in a condition to conquer them.' 

Danby and William at once made capital of this re- 
fusal. Charles's irritation at his fresh failure was carefully 
fostered ; and he was easily persuaded to throw over his 
compact with France and summon Parliament in Janu- 
ary. Before it met Louis made a last effort. He offered 
an increased bribe to Charles and a large present to 
Danby ; and he withdrew from his haughty attitude so 
far as to give up his demand for Luxemburg, Courtrai, 
and Ypres. Both bribes and offers were, through Danby's 
steady conduct, refused. Not only so, but on 

Treaty of • i 1 

England January 10, 1678, a treaty was signed at the 

Republic, Hague, embodying William's terms, and 

i6 n 8 Uary 10 ' binding England and the Republic to com- 
pel the assent of both France and Spain. 
Ostend was handed over to Charles provisionally as a 
place d 'amies on the Continent. He raised 12,000 men, 
ordered the equipment of thirty ships, and recalled his 
troops in the French service. On February 7, confident 
of the concurrence of Parliament, he opened the session 
with a speech which meant war with France, and he de- 
manded supplies for ninety ships and 40,000 men. 

But the Shaftesbury Opposition utterly distrusted the 



1678. The Peace of Nimwegen. 261 

honesty of Charles's purpose. The marriage of William, 
as brought about by Danby, was now regarded with 
suspicion; they affected to believe that it was the re- 
sult of an agreement with Louis himself, and that the 
King's warlike language was merely to induce Parlia- 
ment to give him an army, which he would straightway 
use to secure despotic power. The welfare of Protest- 
antism abroad and the checking Louis's aggression no 
longer occupied their thoughts. To over- 
throw Danby and to secure liberty of con- policy of the 

r „ ,-,. , Opposition. 

science for Protestant Dissent at home were 
their sole objects, and for these they were ready now to 
render Louis free of all interference from Charles. In 
fact, since Danby joined William, they joined Louis. 
Unable to oppose openly a war of which they had been 
the most vehement advocates, they determined to insist 
upon conditions of peace so onerous that Louis would 
be justified in continuing the war, but if possible to 
render Charles powerless to join in it. In the first part 
of their plan they succeeded. They carried an address 
to the King, demanding that France should be reduced 
to the terms of the peace of the Pyrenees, and that no 
commercial relations should be held with her by Eng- 
land or England's allies until that was done. But farther 
than this they could not make head against Danby's 
pensioners and the moderate men. By a Votes of 
large majority it was voted that 30,000 men ^fav^Tirof 
and 90 vessels should be raised to support the war - 
the alliance with the Dutch, and on February 18 a reso- 
lution to raise a million sterling, ' to enable his Majesty 
to enter into an actual war with the French King,' was 
agreed to. 



262 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1678. 

2. Capture of Ghent and Ypres by Louis. Proposals 
for a Separate Peace with the Dutch. 

The suspicions of Charles's honesty were as usual 
well founded. Unable from habit, even if willing, to 
take a great resolution, though one in which the whole 
Chicanery of nation would have supported him, the King 
Charles. now secretly made a fresh attempt to accom- 

modate matters with Louis, by offering the alliance of 
England for 600,000/., on condition that Louis would 
give up Valenciennes and his other conquests on the 
Scheldt. 

But Louis was less than ever disposed to yield, for he 
had just struck another unexpected blow. He had de- 
termined to extort peace, as De Witt had extorted it by 
the Chatham exploit. Sending Crequy across the Rhine 
to oppose the Germans, he ostentatiously made prepara- 
tions which seemed to threaten Ypres, Mons, Namur, 
and Luxemburg. The Spaniards hurriedly drew troops 
for their defence from all the towns where no attack was 
anticipated, among them the great city of Ghent. Sud- 
denly Louis concentrated his forces, and 

Capture of J . 

Ghent and appeared before Ghent on March 4, having 
Louis, y previously ordered D'Humieres to meet him 

March 1678. there with his corps< Denuded of its defend- 
ers, Ghent was in his hands by the 12th. Repeating his 
stratagem, he threatened Bruges ; and, when the troops 
from Ypres were drawn off to its succor, he invested and 
took that fortress on the 25th. 

The effect upon public feeling in England was such, 
that Charles, to keep his people within bounds, was 
Effects of obliged to send troops to Ostend, while pri- 

this exploit. vately assuring the French ambassador that 
he had no desire for war, and would do all in his power 
to avoid it. He was in a pitiable state of perplexity. 



1678. The Peace of Nimwegen. 263 

Afraid of the popular outcry, but unwilling to commit 
himself to war, he went on with his vain endeavours to 
find a compromise satisfactory both to Louis and William. 
His difficulties were increased by the state of things in 
the United Provinces. There too the union of William 
with the English royal family was looked upon with the 
keenest suspicion, which was further increased by the 
discovery of a secret article in the treaty of January, bind- 
ing Charles and the States-General to assist each other 
against their rebellious subjects — a discovery which pre- 
vented the ratification of the treaty. 

Upon the Republic therefore the capture of Ghent and 
Ypres had the effect which Louis had intended. Now 
that their own independence was beyond 
question, and that he declared himself willing Republic 
to satisfy one of their essential demands by on a separate 
abandoning to Spain a strong barrier for her P eace - 
Low Countries, the Dutch thought only of their other great 
interest, commerce, which was every day passing into the 
hands of England. The States-General represented to 
William the necessity of a separate peace, and they went 
the length of disbanding a third of their army. Louis, 
informed of this disposition, at once furnished his depu- 
ties at Nimwegen with instructions. Always offers of 
scrupulously faithful to his allies, he in the Louis 
first place insisted on full satisfaction to Sweden. Of his 
conquests in the Empire he would retain alone Freiburg 
or Philippsburg ; in other respects the Peace of Westphalia 
should be scrupulously observed. To Spain he would 
concede a barrier extending from the sea to the Meuse, 
guarded by Nieuport, Dixmude, Courtrai, Oudenarde, 
Ath, Mons, Charleroi, and Namur, retaining 
Ypres in his own hands. To the Dutch he 
offered Maestricht and the most favourable commercial re- 



264 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1678. 

lations. Partial restoration was promised to the Duke of 
Lorraine. If these terms were promptly accepted, he 
would throw in either Charlemont, or Dinant and Bou- 
vines. 

A violent conflict went on in the Provinces. Led by 
Amsterdam and the principal towns of North Holland, 
the merchants clamoured for peace. Against them were 
Temple and William, who was supported by the whole 
William and body of nobles. The Prince hurried to the 
Tempk Hague and spoke vehemently against so 

endeavours for shameful an abandonment of his allies. In 
the end all that the peace party could do was 
to secure from Louis a three months' truce, with a removal 
of commercial restrictions, and the sending a pacific mis- 
sion to England and Brussels. 

Meanwhile the news of their action had reached Eng- 
land. Charles evidently saw in it an excuse for withdraw- 
ing from his forced connection with the Republic. He 
laid the matter before Parliament (April 29), in a tone of 
anger at such a step having been taken without his con- 
sent, and requested its advice. At the desire of the Com- 
mons he placed before them the various treaties he had 
mentioned in his speech. After several days of eager 
Temper of debate a resolution of the most uncompro- 
the mising character was carried by a narrow 

Parliament. . ... 

majority. The King was desired at once to 
join the coalition for carrying on the war ; to secure the 
continued co-operation of the Republic ; to obtain the 
consent of all the allies to a total prohibition of any com- 
mercial relations with France ; to invite further assistance ; 
and to secure a promise that no peace should be made 
without the consent of all. To this vote, so different from 
what he had desired, Charles made no reply, on the ground 
that the Lords had not concurred. But on May 1 1 he sent 



1678. The Peace of Nimwegen. 265 

a message warning the Commons that unless a supply 
were speedily given him he should be forced to lay up his 
ships and disband his troops — the very step to which the 
Shaftesbury party, in fulfilment of their pledges to Louis, 
were now bent upon driving him. The message raised a 
tempest in the House. As Colonel Birch said, ' This is a 
work of darkness from the beginning.' But so well had 
Danby marshalled his forces that the court secured a 
majority of one against continuing the discussion. He 
was unable however to prevent a general resolution 
against the whole conduct of affairs, praying especially 
for the removal of Lauderdale and other ' evil counsel- 
lors.' Charles at once prorogued the Parliament for ten 
days. 

3. Secret Treaties of Charles with Louis. The Dis- 
banding Question in Parliament. 
The truce offered by Louis, with the suggested terms of 
peace, had in the meantime been submitted to the other 
members of the coalition. By one and all they were re- 
jected in language of the utmost defiance. Louis there- 
fore again set himself to secure a separate peace with the 
Republic. But he lost no opportunity of strengthening 
his own position. Assembling a strong force at Courtrai 
on May 16, he passed the Lys, and from the little town 
of Deynse, close to Ghent, wrote a conciliatory letter to 

the States-General. For a time William, 

States- 
supported by the nobles, and now by some General 

of the towns, though not by Amsterdam, deputation 

stood firm against any compromise. His to Louis - 

resolution however was changed by unfavourable news 

from England, and he consented to a deputation being 

sent to confer with Louis. 

The belief of Birch that the whole matter was ' a work 



266 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 167& 

of darkness ' was fully justified. Charles had been again 
in secret negotiation with Louis, who had offered him 
240,000/. in the course of three years should he succeed 
in bringing about a peace. But Danby, who was deter- 
mined that if England was to be at the back of France it 
should be for a good price, demanded that sum yearly 
for three years, the payment to begin at once. 

Louis decided to meet Charles half-way. On May 27, 
by a secret agreement drawn up and signed by Charles 
Secret alone — for Danby again refused to put his 

L Ca - y M th head in peril by adding his name — it was 
27, 1678. arranged that Charles should do his best to 

secure peace on terms favourable to Louis within two 
months ; that, if unsuccessful, he should recall and dis- 
band his troops, except 3,000 to be left in Ostend, and 
should prorogue Parliament for four months, on condi- 
tion of receiving the subsidy demanded, half of which 
was to be paid at the expiration of the two months. 

The suspicions of the Commons again tended to re- 
duce Charles to the powerlessness which Louis desired. 
The On the very day of the compact, May 27, 

in s^ t m ° n ns they demanded either immediate war with 

disbanding. France or immediate disbanding. A week 
later, after two similar votes, they insisted that the dis- 
banding should take place by the end of June ; though 
they afterwards altered the date, as regarded the forces 
in the Spanish Low Countries, to July 27, and they pro- 
vided money for the purpose. They gave him too a 
further supply for other uses, after rejecting without a 
division his request for an increase of 300,000/. to the 
revenue. When however the Lords endeavoured to ex- 
tend the date, they at once repelled the assumed right 
of the Upper House to meddle with a ' bill of money,' 
by tacking the bill to raise funds for disbanding on to 



1678. The Peace of Nimwegen. 267 

that for the further supply, so that they must both fall or 
pass together. Charles, having passed the bill, pro- 
rogued the Parliament, July 15. 

He had an excuse, more than sufficient in his eyes, for 
evading the engagement to disband ; for the whole 
aspect of affairs abroad, and with it his intentions, had 
again undergone a complete change. 

Up to the end of June peace with the Dutch and Spain 
had seemed assured. William himself regarded it as 
useless to struggle any longer against the universal cry. 
He wrote a conciliatory letter to Louis, which was answered 
in the tone befitting an injured father to a repentant son. 
The States-General ordered their deputies to sign the treaty 
before the end of the month ; and Spain expressed her con- 
currence. Only at the last moment a misunderstanding 
suddenly declared itself, which threatened an immediate 
renewal of the war on the part of every nation engaged. 

4.. Expected Renewal of War. Another Treaty of 
England with thf Dutch. Separate Peace be- 
tween Louis and the Dutch. 
In promising to give back to Spain the towns which 
were to form her barrier, Louis had avoided pledging 
himself to do so as a preliminary to peace, 0uestion of 
though this was understood by the Dutch the cession of 
and the Spaniards. He now demurred to ba?rie^ anlS 
giving them up until the demands of Sweden L<Ws° f 
should be satisfied. This would have com- action on 

the Dutch 

pelled the Dutch to maintain a large army and 

on the Yssel, when their greatest desire was 

to disband. In a moment the Provinces were in a blaze, 

and William regained his ascendancy. Though every 

one now longed for peace, the fortunes of war had been 

so evenly balanced, that any unexpected pretension on 



268 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1678. 

one side or the other was sufficient to throw all back into 
confusion. 

Charles underwent the same revulsion of feeling. He 
refused to ratify his secret treaty with Louis, or to disband 
his troops in the Spanish Low Countries, declaring that 
his people would chase him from his kingdom if Louis 
were suffered to extend his conquests. He sent off Tem- 
ple once more (July 6) in haste to make a strict alliance 
with the Republic ; and on July 26 a treaty 
England was framed binding the Dutch to continue 

^f ith ... the struggle, and England to declare war, if 

Republic, e>& > e> » 

July 26, Louis by August 1 1 did not declare himself 

ready to give up the town at once. Louis had 
thus fifteen days wherein to settle the question upon 
which depended the breaking up of the coalition or the 
immediate renewal of war. 

Day by day the interval passed without an answer 

from Louis. He could not bring himself to break through 

, „ ,. , his rule of fidelity to his alliances. At length 

The Swedish , , ' . , , „ , 

difficulty he was set free by the action of the Swedes 

themselves. One of their deputies took upon 
himself to declare that Sweden would raise no objection 
to a separate peace if the Republic promised not to assist 
her foes. Louis thereupon ordered the treaty to be signed, 
on condition that Spain should make a similar engage- 
ment regarding both himself and his allies. This de- 
mand led to further delay, and on the 9th, within a day 
of the stipulated time, all was still in doubt. When at ten 
on the next morning they met for the last conference, the 
French commissioners, Colbert, Estrades, and Avaux, 
The final felt how vast were the issues depending upon 

Au n gu r s e tTo e ' that da > r ' s work - Carefully as the exhaus- 
1678. tion of France was kept from the knowledge 

of Europe, they knew that the continuation of war would 



1678. The Peace of Nimivegen. 269 

be a terrible calamity for their country, and that Louis, 
haughty as might be his language, had probably reached 
the limits of what it was possible for him to conquer at 
the time. They knew too that Temple had arrived the 
evening before at Nimwegen to frustrate, if possible, in 
concert with William, the conclusion of peace. For thir- 
teen hours the conference sat continuously. Colbert and 
his colleagues fought the ground inch by inch against the 
settled will of William and the States-Gen- 

Peace 

eral. Only one hour before the moment at between 
which negotiations would cease — at eleven t h e Re-' 
on the night of August 10, 1678 — France and August n 
the Republic signed the treaty which removed l6 78. 
the most important member from the coalition, and gave 
the signal for its disruption. 

By this treaty Louis confessed afresh the complete fail- 
ure of his war of aggression on the Dutch. The patient 
Republic came out of the six years' struggle without the 
loss of an acre of land ; the sum of her concessions was a 
promise of neutrality during the remainder of the war. 
Untouched in their territory, the Dutch were also secured 
in their main interest, commerce. Freedom of trade and 
navigation was mutually restored, and the compulsory 
visitation of the warships of either nation in each other's 
harbours removed, while all vexatious restrictions on 
Dutch subjects residing or trading in France were taken 
off. Each might henceforth trade with the enemies of 
the other, if properly provided with a passport, except in 
articles contraband of war ; or, in the language of inter- 
national law, a free ship was to cover the merchandise ; 
but all goods on an enemy's ship should be liable to con- 
fiscation. The personal interests of William were pro- 
vided for by the restoration of his principality of Orange, 
and of all the estates belonging to him in France, Franche 



270 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1678. 

Comte, the Charolais, and the Spanish Low Countries. 
Spain and any other of the allies who within six weeks from 
the ratification should declare themselves ready to accept 
peace were to be admitted as parties to the treaty. 

Strange to say, the peace was signalised by the most 
desperate engagement of the war. William, with all the 
forces he could collect, had marched to succour Mons, 
then invested by the Duke of Luxemburg. On August 14 
he arrived before the French lines. Luxemburg knew that 
peace was concluded. William had cer- 

Battle of St. r . , 

Denys tainly no official knowledge, but the proba- 

Wiiliam and bility of events must be set against his em- 
Lux-emburg phatic declaration that he had no informa- 

betore Mons, * 

August 14, tion whatever. He determined to strike one 
more blow at Louis, and if possible to de- 
stroy his own unbroken record of defeat in the field. By 
an impetuous attack upon Luxemburg's lines he for a 
while carried all before him. But the ' hunchbacked 
dwarf rallied his forces, and delivered so fierce a coun- 
ter-stroke that after six hours of murderous conflict he 
regained the captured positions. At the close of a long 
day of slaughter Luxemburg still held Mons in his grip, 
while William, though he had failed in his main object, 
remained on the field of battle. The next morning the 
official declaration of peace arrived, and at the same hour 
by arrangement the two armies left Mons, the French 
retreating towards Ath, the Dutch to Brussels. 

5. Peace with Spain. 
The treaty was not binding until it had been ratified. 
To prevent this ratification William and Temple strained 
Difficulty every nerve. They were supported by the 

with Spam. indignant reproaches of the allies whom the 
Republic had thus deserted — Denmark, Brandenburg, 



1678. The Peace of Nimwegen. 27 J 

the Emperor, and the Bishop of Minister. Spain too put 
obstacles in the way. The States-General hereupon 
adjourned the ratification until the peace with Spain was 
signed, acting meanwhile as mediators. 

But the internal troubles of Spain robbed her of all 
real desire to continue the war. The boy-king, Charles 
II., had assumed the government at the age of fourteen 
on November 6, 1675. But the power remained with the 
Queen Regent. She in her turn delivered it into the 
hands of Fernando Valenzuela, a worthless Revolution 
favourite of the type of Piers Gaveston or in s P ain - 
Robert Carr. A rising of the nobles took place in con- 
sequence, and the King's natural brother, Don John, came 
into power, though Charles remained nominally King. 
The favourite was banished, and the Queen fled. Don 
John, in turn, soon found himself in the midst of diffi- 
culties, and was anxious to be free from the additional 
complications of the war. Louis, informed of the activity 
of the emissaries of William, who were inveighing in every 
town of the province of Holland against the dishonour 
brought upon the nation, and of the mission of Laurence 
Hyde from the King of England with an engagement 
to declare war three days after he knew Peace 
that the States-General had refused to ratify F^ancTand 
the treaty, determined with his usual good femem- 
sense not to endanger the advantages he b er, 1768. 
had acquired. On September 17 the peace was signed 
with Spain. 

France gave back Charleroi, Binch, Ath, Oudenarde, 
and Courtrai, which she had gained by the Peace of Aix- 
la-Chapelle ; the town and duchy of Limburg, all the 
country beyond the Meuse, Ghent, Rodenhus, and the 
district of the Waes, Leuze, and St. Ghislain, with Puy- 



272 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1678. 

cerda in Catalonia, these having been taken since that 
peace. But she retained Franche Comte, with the towns 
of Valenciennes, Bouchain, Conde, Cambrai and the 
Cambresis, Aire, St. Omer, Ypres, Werwick, Warneton, 
Poperinge, Bailleul, Cassel, Bavai, and Maubeuge. The 
signature of this treaty was followed by the ratification 
of that with the Dutch. The Spaniards however, with 
their ingrained love of delay, attempted, when the date 
came (October 31) for the ratification of their own treaty, 
to put it off until that with the Emperor was signed. Louis 
held his hand for a month ; then, thoroughly provoked, 
he ordered his troops to march upon Brussels. This 
brought the Spaniards to their senses, and on December 
15 the ratifications were exchanged. 

6. Peace with the Emperor and the Rest of the 
Allies. 

There remained the Grand Elector of Brandenburg, 
the King of Denmark, the Dukes of Brunswick and Liine- 
burg, the Bishop of Munster and the Emperor. The two 
first, whose operations were chiefly against Sweden, at 
the point farthest from Louis, and who were gaining 
successes there, did their best, though now deprived of 
the subsidies of the United Provinces, to prevent the 
Emperor from coming to terms with France 

Successes ° 

of Crequy and Sweden. He however had conclusive 

against the r . , . , TT 

Emperor and reasons for wishing to make peace. He 

Lorraine. j^^ m ^q i as( . cam p a ig n seen the yOUllg 

Duke of Lorraine thoroughly beaten by Crequy, who, 
besides preventing the capture of Freiburg, had taken 
Kehl, Ruperschau, Landau, and Lichtenberg, and had 
destroyed the bridge at Strassburg. The Hungarians 
too had risen against him, and with the support of bodies 



1679- The Peace of Nimwegen. 273 

of troops raised in Poland and officered by Frenchmen 
had gained alarming successes on the border. On Feb- 
ruary 2, 1679, peace was declared between Louis, the 
Emperor, and the Empire. Louis gave back Peace 
Philippsburg retaining Freiburg with the Emperor 
desired liberty of passage across the Rhine |T^ Empire, 
to Breisach ; in all other respects the Treaty 1679. 
of Mnnster, of October 24, 1648, was re-established. If 
the enemies of Sweden would not make peace the 
Emperor and the Empire would neither assist them 
nor allow them to encamp on the territory of the 
Empire outside their own dominions, while Louis should 
be free to keep garrisons in several towns of the Empire. 
The treaty then dealt with the Duke of Lorraine. To 
his restitution Louis annexed conditions which rendered 
Lorraine little more than a French province. Not only 
was Nancy to become French, but, in con- „ . .. 

J ' Restitution 

formity with the treaty of 1661, Louis was to of Duke of 

. . r - . . Lorraine. 

have possession of four large roads travers- 
ing the country, with half a league's breadth of territory 
throughout their length, and the places contained therein : 
the roads, namely, from St. Dizier to Nancy, and from 
Nancy to Alsace, Vesoul in Franche Comte, and Metz. 
The town and district of Longwy also were to be placed 
in his hands. To these conditions the Duke refused to 
subscribe, preferring continual exile until the Peace of 
Ryswick in 1697, when at length his son regained the an- 
cestral estates. 

On the same day the Emperor and the Empire made 
peace with Sweden. All that the allies had peace 
taken from her was to be restored, and the between the 
Emperor agreed to mediate between her and ands^veden. 
the powers that still stood out. 

It was impossible for the other members of the coali- 
s 



274 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 1679. 

tion to carry on the war. The Dukes of Brunswick and 

Between Ltineburg and the Bishop of Munster sur- 

DukeTof 116 rendered their captures in Sweden, retaining 

Brunswick one or two places which rectified their fron- 

Luneburg, tiers. Each received from Louis a subsidy 

and Munster, for the concession. It needed however a 

and between final exhibition of force before Brandenburg 

Branden- , & 

burg, and Denmark would give way. Crequy again 

Swede" ' passed the Rhine and took Marck and Lipp- 
and France. stadt ; then, crossing the Weser, defeated the 
Grand Elector and threatened Magdeburg. On June 29 
the Grand Elector consented to make restitution to Swe- 
den, except on the Brandenburg side of the Oder, prom- 
ising to build no fortress on that river. Denmark, left 
alone, made peace with France and Sweden in September 
on similar terms, and separate treaties were also con- 
cluded between Sweden, Spain, and the Republic. The 
Dutch, who in accordance with the treaty of 1673 should 
have restored Maestricht to Spain, retained that important 
bulwark as a recompense for their efforts in securing the 
barrier for the latter country. 

7. Conclusion. 

The effect of the Peace of Nimwegen was thus, speak- 
ing generally, to reaffirm the Peace of Westphalia. But, 
inasmuch as Louis — though foiled in the immediate purpose 
of the war — was the only gainer, it did not, like the Peace 
of Westphalia, close for any length of time the sources 
of strife, but, while affording to France a basis for future 
aggrandisement, left sore feelings everywhere, with the 
certainty of renewal of war. 

One country alone, or rather one person, had come out 
of the struggle with marked discredit. The position of 
Charles II. of England was indeed contemptible. Peace 



Conclusion. 275 

had been made without his concurrence — in spite, indeed, 
of his utmost efforts. He had lived by chicanery, and his 
chicanery had ended in complete discomfiture. Louis 
now, neither needing nor fearing him, met his appeal 
for part at least of the money he claimed with a con- 
temptuous refusal. In December, 1678, the Lords united 
with the Commons in insisting on his immediately dis- 
banding his troops, and from that moment, baffled in 
diplomacy and crippled for war, he had no further voice 
in Continental affairs. 

His position with his own people was as humiliating as 
his position in the face of Europe. To the Parliament and 
to the Church he was an object of suspicion. His supplies 
were doled out with jealous parsimony, and his use of the 
money was vigilantly watched. From the control under 
which he fretted his only chances of escape had been 
trickery and foreign alms. His servants were indeed 
capable, but bitter personal rivalries prevented all co- 
operation ; and though the extravagances of an Opposi- 
tion as unscrupulous as himself, aided by his own coolness 
of head and cynical good temper, afforded him before 
long an opportunity of establishing an apparently com- 
plete ascendancy in his kingdom, it was an ascendancy 
maintained only by a scrupulous observance of conditions 
which he had now for nineteen years in vain endeavoured 
to evade. 

The picture is heightened by contrast. Louis stood 
before Europe upon a pinnacle of glory. How he had 
used the instruments of ambition by which he found 
himself surrounded at the close of the wars of the 
Fronde ; the renowned commanders, the veteran troops, 
the skilful diplomatists, the great administrators, among 
whom he stood the adored and unquestioned chief ; 
how, with a people contented to be at length freed 



276 English Restoration and Louis XIV. 

from the desolation of civil war, and a treasury soon 
overflowing through the genius of Colbert, he had 
leaped at two bounds to a position which made him 
at once the admiration and the terror of Europe ; how 
he had created navies and had sent out his armies 
north, south, and east, to confront all Europe in arms ; 
how he had defeated coalitions, dictated treaties of peace, 
pensioned Kings and governments ; how he had not 
only baffled the jealousy of England, but had even en- 
listed the might of her Crown in support of aggressions 
which her people hated ; all this we have seen. 

And, like that of Charles, his European position was 
reflected in that which he held at home. To his own 
people he was as a god. His marshals and his armies knew 
no will but his word ; his ambassadors in every court 
carried out his commands with unfailing obedience. 
After twenty years of imperial almsgiving and of war 
his treasury still to ordinary observers seemed over- 
flowing. To such purpose had he depressed the 
haughty noblesse of France, that they who had been 
the rivals of the throne were now content to worship 
from the level of a common servitude. All great offices, 
the names of which recalled the days when the 
monarchy was still under restraint — Constable, Admiral, 
Lieutenant-General — were suppressed ; and the rest he 
took so literally into his own hands that in 1681 he 
put them up to public auction. With the aid of the 
Jesuits he defied the Papacy, and over the Church his 
rule was absolute. For every form of intellectual effort 
France was then famous — religious oratory, science, art, 
history, literature — and one and all were devoted to the 
glorification of the King. 

And yet at this very time there was not far distant 
the happy combination of events which was to place a 



Conclusion. 277 

final check to his ambition. In the breast of William of 
Orange there glowed ever more intensely that unquench- 
able hatred of France which had received its last and 
fiercest expression in the desperate onset upon Luxem- 
burg's lines before Mons. Within ten years he once 
more arrayed Europe for the conflict, but this time with a 
mightier following at his back. England at length took 
her rightful place. The man who in his own person repre- 
sented the spirit of Continental opposition to the aggres- 
sions of Louis, and the opposition of the English people 
to the French and Popish policy of their own Kings, 
found himself enabled to let loose the hatred which, 
thwarted so long, had grown even keener by repression. 
The happiest day of William's life was probably that on 
which, as King of England, he declared war against 
France. On that day began the long and terrible 
course of retributive humiliations which at length struck 
his lifelong antagonist to her knees, and brought upon 
the Great Monarch an old age embittered by disappoint- 
ment and care. 



INDEX. 



AAR 

A ARDENBURG, defeat of the 

-<*• French at, 216 

Aix-la-Chapelle, peace of, 171 ; ad- 
vantages gained by Louis at, 172 ; 
infractions of, by Louis, 209 

Aitenheim, battle of, 248 

'Alternatives,' the, of Louis, 154 ; 
the second accepted by Castel 
Rodrigo, 171 

Amsterdam, favoured by the Treaty 
of Munster, 8 ; saved by opening 
the sluices, 215; preparations for 
defence of, 216; demands peace, 
264 ; opposes William, 265 

— New, Dutch driven from by 
Nicholas, 134; name changed 
to New York, id 

Anne of Austria, wife of LouisXIII., 
regent after death of LouisXIII., 
17; disappoints the hopes of the 
Parlement, 17; chooses Mazarin 
to succeed Richelieu, id. ; prodi- 
gality, 21 ; anger of, with the 
Frondeurs, 29, 35, 38; restrained 
by Mazarin, 38 ; leaves Paris, 40 ; 
refuses to give up power of arbi- 
trary arrest, 41 ; leaves Paris a 
second time, 41 ; guided by 
Mazarin, 5^ ; refuses Conde's de- 
mands, 53 ; insulted by Conde, 54; 
arrests him, 55 ; forced to release 
the Princes and to dismiss Maza- 
rin, 63 ; forms an alliance with the 
Frondeurs against Conde, 64 

Annesley, Earl of, opposes the aboli- 
tion of the feudal tenures, 96 

Antwerp, commerce of, ruined at 
Treaty of Munster, 8 

Arlington, Henry Bennet, Earl of, 
plots against Clarendon, 156 ; in 



BEA 

rivalry with Buckingham, 164; 
has charge of foreign affairs, id. ; 
in the Dutch interest, 165 ; in 
favour of toleration, 173; sympa- 
thises with the Catholics, id.; 
advises a dissolution, 177; opposes 
Louis XIV., 186; his reason for 
changing his views, 187; advo- 
cates Treaty of Dover, id. ; man- 
ages the negotiations, 188 ; signs 
the treaty, 193 ; joins in duping 
Buckingham, 195; member of the 
' Cabal,' 201 ; one of the commis- 
sioners to William, 222 ; proposer 
of the Test Act, 232 ; disappointed 
at not succeeding Clifford, 233; 
opposes the court, id. ; tells 
Shaftesbury of the first Treaty of 
Dover, 235 ; attacked by Parlia- 
ment, 237 ; compelled to sell his 
office, 241 ; sent on a mission to 
the Hague, 242 

Army, Monk's, disbanded, 95 

Arras, siege of, 74 

Ashley, see Shaftesbury 

Austria, separated from the Spanish 
Netherlands at Peace of West- 
phalia, 5 ; supremacy in central 
Europe destroyed, 8 ; disaffection 
of Hungary, 148 



' "D ALANCE of Power,' 3 
■*-* Bartholomew's, St., Day, Act 
of Uniformity comes into opera- 
tion on, 104 

Bastille, the, taken by the Fron- 
deurs, 44 ; given back to the King, 
47 ; fire from checks Turenne, 69 

Beaufort, Duke of, grandson of 



279 



28o 



Index. 



BEL 
Henryl V.and Gabrielle d'Estrees, 
19; called the ' Roi des Halles,' 
20 ; leader of the ' Importants,' 
id. ; conspires against Mazarin 
and imprisoned, 20 ; escapes, 28; 
joins the Frondeurs in Paris, 44 ; 
defeated at Corbeil, 45 ; refuses 
Mazarin's terms, 49 ; gained over 
through influence of Mme. de 
Montbazon, 55 ; commands the 
rebel army, 67 ; defeated by 
Turenne at Jargeau, 68 ; governor 
of Paris under Conde, 70 ; gives 
up his post for 100,000 livres, 72 
Eellegarde, siege and capture of, 58 
Bennet, Henry, see Arlington 
Berkeley, Viceroy of Ireland, 189 
Beuninghen, Van, Dutch ambassa- 
dor at London, 192 ; deceived by 
feigned negotiations, 193 ; bribes 
members of the ' Pensionary ' Par- 
liament, 244 
Bishops, restored to the House of 
Lords, 100 ; oppose Charles's at- 
tempt to suspend the Act of Uni- 
formity, 104; friendly to Clarendon, 
156; severe in executing the second 
Conventicle Act, 183 ; oppose the 
Bill for the ease of Protestant 
dissenters, 233; conference of, at 
Lambeth, with Danby, 243 
Bombay, acquired by England, 107 
Bordeaux, revolts, 49; the Borde- 
lais defeated, id. ; revolts again, 
59; makes terms with Mazarin, 
60; receives Conde with enthu- 
siasm, 66; republican feeling in, 
67; reign of terror in, 73; final 
submission, id. ; revolt in, 249 
Brandenburg, compels Bishop of 
Munster to make peace, 140 ; joins 
Quadruple Alliance, id ; Grand 
Elector of, treaty with Louis XIV. 
in [664, 147 ; promises neutrality 
in Louis's invasion of the Spanish 
Low Countries, 152; refuses 
Louis's offers in 1671,197; alli- 
ance with the Republic, 211 ; alli- 
ance with the Emperor, 224; joins 
Montecuculi, id. ; defeated by 
Turenne, 225 ; makes peace with 
Louis, id. ; joins the second coali- 
tion against Louis, 229 ; joins the 
Imperialists in Alsace, 239; de- 
feated by Turenne at Colmar, 
240; defeats the Swedes, 248; 
defeated by Crequy, 274; makes 
peace, 273 



CAT 

Breda, Declaration of, 89-91 ; par- 
tial fulfilment of, 91-99 ; confer- 
ence at, 144 ; Treaty of, 145 

Bridgeman, Orlando, lays down 
doctrine of ministerial responsi- 
bility at the trial of the regicides, 
96 ; ignorant of the first Treaty of 
Dover, 193 ; refuses to put Great 
Seal to the Declaration of Indul- 
gence, 207 

Britanny, government of, taken by 
the Queen Regent, 20 ; remains 
loyal, 49 ; revolt in, 249 

Broadmead, near Bristol, scene at, 

Broussel and Blancmesnil, arrested, 
36 ; released, 38 ; appear at court, 

39 
Buckingham, Duke of, ridicules 
Clarendon, 156 ; divides Claren- 
don's power with Arlington, 164; 
rivalry with Arlington, id. ; in 
favour of toleration, 173 ; in favour 
of France, 186; ignorant of first 
Treaty of Dover, 193 ; allowed to 
frame a sham treaty, 194 ; one of 
the Cabal, 201 ; one of the com- 
missioners to William, 222; at- 
tacked by Parliament, 237; thrown 
over by Charles, 242 ; suggests a 
divorce to Charles, id. ; asserts 
that Parliament is dissolved by 
the fifteen months' prorogation, 
254 ; sent to the Tower, 255 



f^ABAL, meaning of the term, 201; 

^-' unlike our ' Cabinet,' id. ; The 
Cabal, 201 ; its members united 
on the question of toleration alone, 
202 ; shattered by the Test Act, 

2 33 

Caracena, Governor of the Spanish 
Low Countries, 124 ; defeated by 
the Portuguese at Villa Viciosa, 
124 

Castel Rodrigo, Governor of the 
Spanish Low Countries, 124 ; 
energy of, id ; accepts Louis's 
second alternative at the Peace of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, 171 

Catholics, English feeling regarding, 
126,127, 178; the King desires tc 
favour them, id. ; persecuted, 129, 
184; over-confidence of, id. : dis 
like Clarendon, 158 ; favoured by 
Charles under cover of toleration 
for Protestant dissent, 188 ; — and 



Index. 



281 



CHA 

the Test Act, 232 ; their ' flaunt- 
ing,' 234; exc tement against, 
236 ; penal laws against, enforced, 
243 ; alliance with Louis, Shaftes- 
bury, and the Nonconformists, 
249 

Charles I. of England, his example 
quoted by Mazarin, 42 ; effect of 
his execution upon the Frondeurs, 
46 

Charles II. of England, at the Peace 
of the Pyrenees, 87; his offers to 
Mazarin, id. ; restored on suffer- 
ance, 88; his objects in the De- 
claration of Breda, 89; letter to 
the Speaker, id. ; declares ' liberty 
to tender consciences,' 90; carries 
out his promises of indemnity, 91 ; 
messages to the Houses, 92 ; 
bloodless character of the restora- 
tion due to him and Clarendon, 
93 ; anxious for the disbanding of 
Monk's army, 94; his secret in- 
tentions, id. ; retains some regi- 
ments, 95; deceives the Presby- 
terians, 96; selects a conference of 
divines, 97; issues a Declaration 
on ecclesiastical affairs, id. ; insists 
on confirmation of the Indemnity 
Act, 95 ; opposed to the restora- 
tion of the Bishops to the House 
of Lords, 100; opposed to severity 
to Dissenters, 101 ; compelled to 
declare allegiance to the Church, 
102; consents to the Act of Uni- 
formity, id. ; endeavours to sus- 
pend its operation, 104; want of 
money dictates his foreign rela- 
tions, 105; applies to the Dutch, 
106; offers from Spain, id. ; anx- 
ious to tolerate Catholics, id. ; first 
connection with France, 107 ; 
marries the Infanta of Portugal, 
id. ; influence possessed over, by 
his sister, ic8; hostile to the 
Dutch, 116; desires to favour the 
Catholics, 127; in communication 
with Innocent XL, id ; issues 
declaration claiming the dispens- 
ing power, id.; compelled to 
banish Catholic priests, 129 ; 
secures the practical repeal of the 
Triennial Act, 129; consents to 
the First Conventicle Act, 130 ; 
and to the Five Mile Act, 131 ; 
gives New York to James, 134; 
his reasons for the Dutch War, 
135 ; his terms to the Dutch, id. ; 



CHA 

promises not to interfere with the 
projecis of Louis XIV., 136; 
makes alliance with the Bishop 
of Munster, 138; refuses Louis's 
offers of mediation, 139 ; starves 
the navy, 143 , secret treaty with 
Louis XIV., 144; how occupied 
on the day of the Chatnam 
disaster, 145; realises his own 
powerlessness, 155; deserts Clar- 
endon, 159-62 ; refuses formal alli- 
ance with France, 165; offers 
alliance to Spain, 166; acquiesces 
in the ' Perpetual Edict,' 167; 
forms the Triple Alliance, id ; his 
dishonesty, 168; probably discloses 
the secret article of the Triple Alli- 
ance to Louis, 169; tolerates 
Dissent during the recess, 172; 
compelled to consent to Bill for 
continuing the Conventicle Act, 
176; further toleration during 
recess, 177; compelled to enforce 
the laws, 178; opens Parliament 
with military pomp, 180; secret 
negotiations with Louis, id. ; gives 
up toleration, id. ; gets rid of the 
Skinner dispute, 181 ; assents to 
the Second Conventicle Act, id. ; 
and to the persecution of the 
Catholics, 184; anxious to be free 
of the Triple Alliance, 186; his 
difficulties at the Treaty of Dover, 
id. ; his affection for his sister, 
188 ; declares his conversion, 188 ; 
his preparations, id.; deteriora- 
tion of his character, 189; re- 
pudiates Temple, id. ; conversa- 
tion with Colbert, 190; deceives 
Parliament, 191; his first terms 
to Louis, id.; shows his knowl- 
edge of English feeling, 192; 
meets his sister at Dover, 193 ; 
dupes Buckingham with the sham 
treaty, 194; deceives Parliament, 
195; sends Coventry to support 
the French at Stockholm, J96: — 
and the ' Cabal,' 201; and Louise 
de Keroualle, 204 ; caricature of, in 
Holland, 205; secures 1,400,000^. 
by the ' Stop of the Exchequer,' 
id. ; claims the dispensing power 
by the Declaration of Indulgence, 
206; insults the Republic, 21c ; 
attacks the Smyrna fleet, 210; 
rejects the requests of the Dutch 
embassy, 221 ; sends commis- 
sioners to Louis in the United 



282 



Index. 



CHA 

Provinces, z'a? ; compelled to make 
peace, 229, 237 ; meets Parliament, 
230; intends to maintain the 
Declaration, id. ; obliged to cancel 
it, 232 ; tells a deliberate lie to Par- 
liament, 235; dismisses Shaftes- 
bury, 236; offers mediation, 240 ; 
declines visit from William, 241 ; 
his own foreign minister, id. ; 
refuses to divorce his wife, or to 
regard Monmouth as his heir, 242 ; 
wishes for marriage of William 
and Mary, 242; persuaded by 
Danby to return to the policy of 
Clarendon, 243 ; promises Louis to 
dissolve Parliament, 244; is 'like 
a besieged place,' 245, 254; secret 
treaties with Louis, 249, 250 ; dis- 
honesty at Nimwegen, 251; refuses 
to consent to claim of Parliament 
to control foreign alliances, 257; 
refuses to declare war against 
France, 258; invites William to 
London, 259 ; his objects in the 
marriage of William and Mary, 
id.; influenced by William, 259 ; 
forms alliance with the Republic, 
260; his honesty suspected, 262; 
sends troops to Ostend, id. ; with- 
draws from alliance with Repub- 
lic, 264: further secret, negotia- 
tions with Louis, 265 ; rendered 
powerless by Louis and the Par- 
liament, 266; forms another alli- 
ance with the Republic, 268 ; hu- 
miliating position of in 1678, 275 

Charles II., of Spain, his birth bars 
Louis's claim to the Spanish mon- 
archy, in ; infancy, 123 ; assumes 
the government, 271 

Chevreuse, Duchess of, joins the 
attack on Mazarin, 20; exiled, 
20; secured by Mazarin, 50; 
secures the inactivity of De Retz, 
53; bribed by Mazarin, 55: her I 
greed, 57; will not submit to j 
Conde, 64 

Church of England, Declaration of ; 
Breda regarding, 90 ; feeling of at 1 
the Restoration, 96 ; debate upon, | 
id. ; exclusive nature of, 103 ; takes ; 
its final shape, 104; opposed both ! 
to Popery and Dissent, 244 

Clarendon, Edward Hyde, Earl of, 
Lord Chancellor, supreme in the 
Government, 91 ; determined to 
carry out indemnity, id. ; checks 
the savage spirit of the Lords, 92 ; 



CON 

disappoints the Cavaliers, 94 ; the 
friend of the Church, id. ; secures 
the rejection of Hale's motion, 98 ; 
opposed to severity to Dissenters, 
103 ; endeavours to secure parlia- 
mentary recognition of the dis- 
pensingpower, 103; will not favour 
autocratic use of it, 104; urges 
maintenance of Dunkirk, 108; 
opposes the Bill for enabling King 
to dispense with Act of Uni- 
formity, 129 ; causes of his fall, 
155-162 ; impeachment of by 
Bristol, 155; reasons for discon- 
tent with, 156; ingratitude of 
Charles II. to, 160; the weakness 
of his political theory, id.; es- 
capes to France, 162: refused 
permission to come to Paris, 164 

Clifford, Sir Thomas, character of, 
202 ; his horoscope, id. ; author of 
the 'Stop of the Exchequer,' 205; 
created Lord Treasurer, and 
raised to the peerage, 206 ; resigns 
on the passing of the Test Act, 
233 ; his speech on the occasion, 
id. ; dies, id. 

Colbert, Finance Minister of Louis 
XIV., successful measures of, 149 
— de Croissy , brother of the above, 
French Ambassador in London, 
187; frames Treaty of Dover with 
Arlington, 193; conversation with 
Charles II., 190 ; at the Peace of 
Nimwegen, 269 

Conde, Prince of, secured by Maza- 
rin, 19 

— , the ' Great,' son of the above, 
at Rocroy, 19; at Nordlingen, 
23 ; character of, 25 ; — and the 
Petits-Maitres, id. ; at Lens, 36; 
his arrival waited for by Mazarin, 
39; joins the court, 40; falls 
under the influence of De Retz, 
40; gained by Mazarin, 41: ob- 
tains government of Stenai, 42; 
captures Charenton from the 
t'rondeurs, 44; withdraws his 
support from the Government, 51; 
quarrels with Mazarin, 52; tem- 
porarily reconciled, id. ; estranges 
the Frondeurs and the noblesse, 
53 ; encourages the Bordelais to 
revolt, id ; his carriage fired into, 
54; his insolence to the Queen, 
id. ; arrested, 55 ; removed to 
Havre, 60; released by Mazarin 
and returns to Paris, 63 ; his terms 



Index. 



283 



CON 

rejected by the Queen, 64 ; alien- 
ates his friends, 65 ; refuses to at- 
tend the majority of Louis XIV., 
65; enthusiastically received at 
Bordeaux, 66; attainted of high 
treason, td. ; defeated at Tonnai- 
Charente, 66; tries to obtain 
Cromwell's alliance, 67; report 
of him to Cromwell, id.; fails to 
gain the Duke of Lorraine, id. ; 
outmanoeuvred on the Dordogne, 
68; defeats royal forces at Ble- 
neau, but checked by Turenne, 
id.; goes to Paris, id. ; gains ad- 
vantage over Turenne at St. 
Cloud, 69; defeated in the Fau- 
bourg St. Antoine, 70 ; establishes 
provisional government in Paris, 
id. ; his forces dwindle away, 71 ; 
flies, 72; driven to La Capelle by 
Turenne, id.: enlists in Spanish 
service, 74; defeated before Arras, 
75 ; wins the battle of Valen- 
ciennes, 78 ; his words to the Duke 
of Gloucester, 80; at the battle of 
the Dunes, 81 ; restored to his 
posts at the Peace of the Pyrenees, 
86; anxiety about the Dutch 
war, 212; crosses the Rhine at 
Kaiserwerth and takes Wesel, 
214; the passage of the Rhine at 
Tolhuys, 214; wounded, id. ; his 
advice to Louis, 215; commands 
in Alsace, 225 ; outmanoeuvred by 
William, 228; defeats William at 
Seneff, 238; campaign after the 
death of Turenne, 248 ; retires to 
his domains, id. 

Conti, brother of Conde, command- 
er-in-chief of the Frondeurs, 44 ; 
arrested, 55 

Conventicles, first Act regarding, 
130; continued, 176; second, 181 ; 
at Broadmead, 131 ; almost dis- 
appear from England, 183 

Corporation Act, destroys Presby- 
terianism in the State, 101 

Cromwell applied to by Conde, 67 ; 
by France and Spain, 77; his 
terms to both, id.; agreement 
with Mazarin, 78; threatens 
Mazarin, 79; demands a fresh 
agreement, 80 ; his death, 81 ; 
hatred of his military despotism 
in England, 95; defeats the Re- 
public, 119 

Courtin, French Ambassador to 
Sweden, 197; to Charles II., 254 



DUT 
Coventry, Henry, sent to Sweden 
to help Courtin, 196 



DANBY, Thomas Osborne, Earl 
of, succeeds Clifford as Lord 
Treasurer, 233; has the conduct 
of all home business, 241 ; op- 
posed to France, 243, 244; deter- 
mines on a return to the policy of 
Clarendon, zV/.; his bribery, id. ; 
opposes dissolution, 245; defeats 
attack upon himself, 245; brings 
in the ' Non-resisting '! est,' 246 ; 
baffled by Shaftesbury, 247; in- 
sists on money from Louis, 251 ; 
258; refuses to sign the secret 
treaties with France, 251, 266; 
defeats the opposition, 254 ; se- 
cures an unconditional vote for 
600,000/., 255; brings in bill for 
securing the Protestant religion, 
id.; urges war with France, 258; 
acts in concert with William, 260; 
refuses Louis's bribes, 261 

Dover, first Treaty of, 193 ; second, 
195 : importance of, 196 

Downing, ambassador to the Hague, 
promotes a rupture, 210 
I Dunes, battle of the, 81 

Dunkirk, threatened by the Span- 
iards, 54; besieged and captured, 
70, 74; demanded by Cromwell, 
77; captured by Turenne, 81 ; 
handed over to the English, id. ; 
sold to France, 109 

Du Plessis-Praslin, defeats Turenne 
at Rethel, 61 

Duquesne, French admiral, defeats 
the Dutch in the Mediterranean 
Sea, 252 

Dutch salute the English flag, 133 ; 
exclusiveness in trade, 133; mer- 
chants, informal war between and 
English, 134;— ships in English 
harbours seized as prizes, 135; 
people, character of the, 116; en- 
terprise of the, 117; ships, supe- 
riority of the, 117, 136; their 
method of fighting inferior to that 
of the English, 137; dislike of 
French for, 139; trade with Scot- 
land, 143; arrogant language of, 
185 ; character of, 207 ; thriftiness, 
2ii ; army, state of the, 211 ; want 
of discipline among, 213; ingrati- 
tude of to De Witt, 219 ; hatred 
between — and the Spaniards, 253 



284 



Index. 



ELB 

pLBCEUF, Due d', one of the 

-'-' ' Importants,' 20; commander 
in-chief of the Frondeurs, 43; his 

, demands, 48 

Emery, controller-general of finance 
under Mazarin, 21, 22; revives 
the toise, 22; proposes the ta.xe 
des aises, 22; the 'rachat/26; 
the ' Paulette,' 27; dismissed, 35 

England, supremacy at sea acknowl- 
edged by France, 194 

Enghien, Due d', see Conde 

Epernon, Due d', one of the ' Im- 
portants,' 20 ; receives the govern- 
ment of Guienne.20 ; quarrels with 
the Parlement of Bordeaux, 49; 
hated by the people, 59; removed 
from the piovince, 60 

Estrades, French ambassador at the 
Hague, outwitted by Temple, 
167 

Exchequer, Stop of the, suggested 
by Clifford, 205 ; effect of, id. ; 
enables Charles to do without 
Parlement for nearly two years, 
230; ruins the credit of the crown, 

254 

Excise, increase of, through aboli- 
tion of feudal tenures, 96 



T7EUDALISM, contest of Riche- 

■*■ lieu with in France, 4; assisted 
by Mazarin in Germany, id. 

Feudal tenures abolished in Eng- 
land, 96 

Five Mile Act, 131 

France, influence of and advantages 
gained by, at Peace of West- 
phalia, 4-6; state of, under Riche- 
lieu, 12; desperate state of finance 
of, 21-28; condition of peasants, 
27; subsidises other nations, 28; 
division of classes in, 32; strength 
of monarchical feeling in, 32 ; 
cleared of the Spaniards, 62 ; 
Spanish conquests against, 74; 
demands upon, by Cromwell, 77; 
exhaustion of, 81; advantages 
gained by, at the Peace of the 
Pyrenees; 87; fear of, in the 
United Provinces, 121; treaty 
with England, 145 ; with Por- 
tugal, 147; jealousy of, among 
the Princes of the Empire, 148 ; 
fleet and army, 149: division of 
Spanish monarchy between — and 
Austria, by treaty of eventual 



HEN 

partition, 154; jealousy of, in 
England, 162, 234, 245; contest 
between — and the Republic for the 
English alliance, 165; second 
article regarding, in Triple Alli- 
ance, 172; advantages gained by, 
at Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 172; 
belief that Clarendon favoured, 
162,173; losses of, in 1674, 238; 
opposition to, by Danby, 249 ; 
success of, on the sea, 252; gains 
of, and restorations by, at Peace 
of Nimwegen, 271, her worship of 
Louis XIV., 276 
Fronde, 9; represents struggle of 
privileged classes against minis- 
terial power, 16; contrast with 
English rebellion, 29-33; originof 
the name, 31 ; Parliamentary, 33- 
51 ; possesses title to respect, 33; 
the New, not to be respected, 51- 
74 ; results of, 73 



PALLICAN liberties, upheld by 

^ Richelieu, 13 

' Generality,' the, ceded by Spain 
to the Dutch, 8 

Germany, reconstituted at Peace of 
Westphalia, 3, 4; central power 
in, weakened by Mazarin, 4 

Gravelines, taken by Spain, 70; 
siege and capture of, 81 

Gremonville, French ambassador at 
Vienna, 151; negotiates treaty of 
eventual partition, 153 ; of neu- 
trality, 198; skill of, id. 

Groningen, invasion of province of, 
223 ; town of, successful defence 
of, 223 



UABEAS CORPUS Bill, passes 

*■ *■ the Commons, 237 

Hale, Sir M., brings in bill for 
comprehension, 98; defeated by 
Clarendon, id. ; takes part in 
conference with dissenting bodies, 

x 73 

Harcourt, secures Normandy, 44; 
fails at Cambrai, but captures the 
town of Conde, 50; treason of, 
75; bribed by Mazarin, id. 

Harmony, Act of, 208 

Henrietta Maria, widow of Charles 
I., in Paris, 46 ; negotiations be- 
tween Charles and Louis take 
place in her house, 144 



Index. 



285 



HEN 

Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans, 
sister of Charles II., marriage of, 
108 ; influence over Charles, 188 ; 
obtains his conversion,^.; con- 
cludes the Treaty of Dover, 193. 

Hungary, 148 ; revolt in, 272 



' TMPORTANTS,' the, 20; 
* crushed by Mazarin, id. 

Indemnity, Bill of, 92, 93 ; Charles's 
determination about, id. ; op- 
posed by the Lords, id. ; con- 
firmed by the Pensionary Parlia- 
ment, 99 

Indulgence, Declaration of, 207 ; 
arguments for and against, 230 ; 
cancelled, 232 

Informers, encouraged by Conven- 
ticle and Five Mile Acts, 132 

' Intendants,' restoration of by 
Richelieu, 11 ; power of, id. ; re- 
voked, 35; attempt by Mazarin 
to restore, 49 ; restored, 74 



TAMES, Duke of York, at battle 

J of the Dunes, 81 ; marriage 
with Anne Hyde, 108 ; hatred of 
the Dutch, 135; at battle of 
Lowestoft, 137; at Southwold 
Bay, id. ; conversion, 187; his 
courage, 217; marriage with 
Mary of Modena, 234: alliance 
with Louis, Shaftesbury, and the 
Nonconformists, 249 

J argeau, battle of, 68 

Jus devolutionis, 112 



TZEROUALLE, Louise de, 
-* *■ Duchess of Portsmouth, 204 ; 
protects Danby, 241 



T AMBETH, conference at, 243, 

^ 245 

Lauderdale, Duke of, plots against 
Clarendon, 156 ; creates an army 
for Charles in Scotland, 189 ; one 
of the Cabal, 202 ; character of, 
203; attacked by the Commons, 
156, 237, 265 

Lens, battle of, 36 

Leopold, obliged to sign the ' capitu- 
lation/ 79 ; claims the Spanish 
succession, in ; contracted to 
the Infanta of Spain, 122, 123 ; op- 



LOR 

position to Louis neutralised by 
the Princes, 148, 190 ; treaty of 
eventual partition with Louis, 
147; of neutrality, 198; alliance 
with Grand Elector of Branden- 
burg, 224; joins second coalition 
against Louis, 227; gains Bruns- 
wick and Liineburg, 229 ; makes 
peace with France, 273 ; with 
Sweden, id. 

Lionne ? secretary to Mazarin, 85 ; 
outwits Coloma, id. ; restores the 
French navy, 149; his threat to 
Sweden, 152; description by, of 
jealousy of Sweden and Denmark, 
197 

Lisbon, English protestant congre- 
gations at, 108 

Lisola, Austrian ambassador, writes 
' Le Boucher d'Etat et de Justice, 
150 

Lit de justice, 15, 23, 41, 72, 76 

Liturgy of Anglican Church re- 
stored, 99 

London plague, 139 ; fire, 143 ; the 
focus of diplomatic intrigue, 163 ; 
Treaty of, 228 

Longueville, Duke of, brother-in- 
law of Conde, 34; joins the court 
at Ruel, 40; joins the Frondeurs, 
44 ; heads the revolt in Normandy, 
id. ; arrested, 55 ; released, 63 

— Duchess of, sister of Conde, quar- 
rels with Mme. de Montbazon, 
20; in Normandy, 57 ; outlawed 
by the Parlement, id. ; escapes 
to Turenne, id. 

Lords, House of, savage spirit at 
Restoration, 92 ; abandons claim 
to original jurisdiction, 178 ; and 
to alter money bills, 179 ; provisos 
of to second Conventicle Bill, 182 

Lorraine, Charles IV., Duke of, se- 
cured by Mazarin, 67 ; invades 
France, 69 ; outmanoeuvred by 
Turenne, id. ; leaves France, id.; 
imprisoned by Spain, 76; his 
army taken into French pay, id. ; 
partial restoration at the Peace of 
the Pyrenees, 86; hands over 
his estates to Louis, 199; receives 
them back on conditions, id. ; 
intrigues againt Louis, id.; joins 
first coalition against Louis, de- 
feated by Turenne, 224 ; joins 
second coalition against Louis, 
228 : defeats Crequy at Treves, 
248 



286 



/ndex. 



LOR 

Lorraine, ChaWes V,, Duke pt', de- 
feated yt vjrequy, J56 ; refuse*, 
Louis's terms of peace, 273 

— , province, invaded by Louis, 199; 
command of, by Louis, 86, 199. 

Louis XIII. , supports Richelieu, 
16; effect of his death, 17; ap- 
points the Queen regent, re- 
nounces the Spanish succession, 82 

Louis XIV., cause of his greatness, 
15; reception in Paris, 50; led 
through the disaffected provinces 
by Mazarin, 56-62 ; with the 
army at the siege of Bellegarde, 
57; declaration of his majority, 
65; nearly captured by Conde, 
68 ; — and the Parlement of 
Pontoise, 71 ; returns to Paris, 
72; asserts the royal authority, 
scene in the Palais de Justice, 76 ; 
marriage with Marie lheiese, 84 ; 
renounces the Spanish succession, 
id.; furthers the marriage of 
Charles II. and the Infanta of 
Portugal, 107; secures a control 
of English affairs, 108 ; his char- 
acter, no, 149,224; claims the 
Spanish succession, in : claims 
the Spanish Low Countries on the 
ground of the jus devolutionis , 
112 ; sends help to Portugal, id. ; 
refuses Spanish alliance, 113 ; 
contempt for the Dutch, 116,185; 
concludes treaty with the Repub- 
lic, 120; acknowledges his design 
to De Witt, 121 ; secures the 
German Princes, 125; obliged to 
wait, id. ; avoids assisting the 
Republic against England, 136; 
sends troops against the Bishop 
of Munster, 139; forms secret 
engagement with Charles, 144 ; 
in the Spanish Low Countries, za'.; 
diplomatic activity, .46; his ser- 
vants, id. ; alliance with Portu- 
gal, 147; forms treaties with the 
Rhine princes, Brandenburg, and 
Sweden, id. ; travels in the Span- 
ish Low Countries, 150; secures 
neutrality of the Emperor and 
the Diet, 151 ; endeavours to se- 
cure Poland for a French prince, 
152; secures the Grand Elector, 
153; threatens Sweden, id. ; the 
'alternatives,' id.; treaty of 
eventual partition with the Em- 
peror, 154: forbids Clarendon 
to come to Paris, 164 ; fails to se- 



LOU 
cure Charles II., 165; overruns 
Franche Comte, 169 ; accepts the 
terms of the Triple Alliance, 170; 
his advantage at the Peace of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, 172 ; anger at 
secret article of the Triple Alli- 
ance, id. ; endeavours to secure 
Charles, 186; insults the Repub- 
lic, 189; gives way to Charles's 
demands, 192 ; breaks up the 
Triple Alliance by the Treaty of 
Dover, 193 ; treaty with Sweden, 
197; with Hanover, Cologne, 
Munster, Osnabruck, id.; invades 
Lorraine, 199 ; secures neutrality 
of Leopold, 200: his forces for 
the invasion of the United Prov- 
inces, 211; his march, 213; 
wrongly advised by Louvois; 
215; waits \ot Amsterdam to sur- 
render, id. ; refuses the terms of 
the Republic, 221 ; treaties with 
Cologne and Hanover; 225 ; re- 
linquishes the invasion of the 
United Provinces, 229; his terms 
to the Dutch rouse feeling in 
England, 234; invades Franche 
Comte, 238; anxious to separate 
the coalition, 240; bribes the 
English Parliament, 244; offers a 
truce, to soothe England, 245; 
successes and reverses in 1675, 
247 ; anxious for peace, 249 ; forms 
alliance with the Opposition in 
England, 249, 261; gives way 
to Danby's demands, 251; secret 
treaty with Charles, 251 ; cap- 
tures Conde and Bouchain, buf 
loses Philippsburg, 253; offers 
separate peace to William, id.; 
conciliates the London merchants. 
254 ; storms Valenciennes, 255 ; 
refuses Dutch terms, 257; secrej 
treaty with Charles, 258; fails to 
bribe Charles and Danby, 260; 
refuses Charles's terms, 262 ; cap- 
tures Ghent and Ypres, id.; offers 
terms to Republic, 263; grants 
three months' truce, 264; another 
secret treaty with Charles, 266; 
determines on peace with the Re- 
public, 267; his refusal to give 
up towns, 268; peace with the 
Republic, 268; with Spain, 271; 
with the Emperor and Empire, 
272; with other powers, 273 ; hii 
position at the Peace of Nim- 
wegen, 275 



Index. 



287 



LOU 
Louis, St., Chamber of, 29 
Louvois, advises Louis wrongly, 215, 

22i ; jealous of Turenne, 225 ; the 

great' Quartermaster-General,' 256 
Luxemburg, Duke of, invades 

Overyssel and Gronisgen, 223 ; 

battle of St. Denys, 270. 



A/TAESTRICHT, masked by 
^*- Louis, 213; captured by 
Vauban, 236 ; retained by the 
Dutch at the Peace of Nimwegen, 
274 
Mardyck, taken by Spain, 74; re- 
captured by French, 79 ; handed 
over to Cromwell, id. 
Marsillac, joins the Frondeurs, 44 
Maynard, Serjeant, supports the 
abolition of the feudal tenures, 96 
Mazarin, weakens central power in 
Germany at Peace of Westphalia, 
4; advocates the conquest of the 
Spanish Low Countries, 6; pro- 
posals to Spain in 1646, 7; tena- 
city of, 8; his objects those of 
Richelieu, 9: his fidelity to the 
Queen, 17; comparison of with 
Richelieu, id ; character of, 18, 
46,61; attacked by the ' Impor- 
tants,' 20 ; refuses the claims ot the 
grandees, id.; protects Emery ,21 ; 
address to the Parlentent, 28 ; his 
influence over the Queen, 29, 35, 
38; enmity of De Retz, id. ; plan 
for restoring the royal authority, 
39; leaves Paris, 40 ; belief in his 
crimes, 41 ; gains Conde, id. ; 
leaves Paris a second time, 42 ; 
vote for his banishment, 43 ; 
bribes Turenne's troops, 44; his 
concessions to the Parlentent, 47 ; 
conciliates the Parlentent of Aix, 
49; endeavours to restore the ,' 
'Intendants,' id. ; firmness in ! 
dealing with Spain, id. ; gains the 
leaders of the Fronde, 50; re- 
turns to Paris, id. ; marriages of 
his family, 51 ; quarrel and re- 
conciliation with Conde, 52 ; gains 
Beaufort and De Retz, id. ; ar- 
rests Conde, 55; progress through 
the provinces, 56-58; creates en- 
thusiasm in the army, 57 ; secures 
submission of Bordeaux. 60; con- 
fronts Turenne at Rethel, id. ; his 
care of the troops, 61 ; deserted 
by Orleans, 63 ; releases the 



MUN 
Princes and leaves France, id.; 
urges the Queen to ally herself 
with the Frondeurs, 64 ; decree 
against him, 65 ; resides at Dinant, 
67 ; returns to France with the 
* Mazarins,' id. ; — and Turenne 
defeat Beaufort at Jargeau, 68; 
and Conde at the Faubourg St. 
Antoine, 70; Parliament ot Pon- 
toise demand his dismissal, 71 ; 
resides at Bouillon, 72; re-enters 
Paris, id ; coerces the Parlia- 
ment, but maintains them as a 
legai body, 74 ; bribes Harcourt, 
and secures the Rhine frontier, 
75 ; refuses the demands of the 
Pope, 76;^ negotiates with Crom- 
well, 77;* forms alliance with 
England, 78; hands over Mar- 
dyck to Cromwell, 79 ; forms the 
Rhine League, 80; marries Louis 
to the Infanta, 82 ; outwits Spain, 
84 ; concludes the Peace of the 
Pyrenees, 85; refuses offers of 
Charles II. of England, 87 ; his 
maxims to Louis XIV., no 

Mazarinades, the, 42 

Middleton, Lord, Viceroy of Scot- 
land, 91 

Militia, control of, given to Charles 
II., 100 

Mole, president of the Parlement 
of Paris, 38 

Monk, nominates Privy Council, 91 ; 
co-operates in disbanding the 
army, 94; offices of, 95; answer 
to the Dutch envoy, 134; com- 
mands the fleet in the battle of 
June 1-4, 1666, 141 ; defeats 
Ruyter, 142 ; opposes a dissolu- 
tion, 177; suppresses the conven- 
ticles in London, 178 

Montbazon, Mdme. de, with the 
' Importants,' 20; quarrel with 
Mdme. de Longueville, id. ; 
bribed by Mazarin, 52 

Montecuculi, beaten by Turenne, 
224; joined by William and cap- 
ture of Bonn, 228 ; outmanoeuvred 
by Turenne, 247; takes the offen- 
sive on Turenne's death, id. 

Morrice, secretary to Monk, 91 

Minister, Bishop of, 138; alliance 
with England, id.; French troops 
sent against him, 139; compelled 
to make peace, id. ; invades 
Overyssel, 223; makes peace, and 
joins coalition against Louis, 228; 



288 



Index. 



MUN 

makes peace at Peace of Nim- 

wegen, 274 
— Treaty of, 8 
Muyden, Rochefort's dash upon, 215 



NJAVIGATION Act, ic6, 119, 

Nemours, Duke of, 68 

Nicholas, Secretary of State at the ) 

Restoration, 91 
Nimwegen, captured by Louis, 215 ; I 

opening of conference at, 253 ; 

Treaty 0^270-274 
Nordlingen, battle of, 23 
Normandy, revolts in, 13, 44 ; se- ( 

cured by Mazarin, 56 



/^yPDAM, at the battle of Lowes- 

W toft, 137 

Orleans, Duke of, uncle of Louis 
XIV., secured by Mazarin, 19 ; 
joins the malcontents, 28 ; joins 
the court, 40 ; supports Mazarin, 
55 \ joins Conde, 68 

brother of Louis XIV., mar- 
ries Charles's sister, Henrietta, 
108 ; defeats William at Cassel, 255 

— Duchess of, see Henrietta 

Ormee, the, 73 

Ormond, Duke of, 91 

Osborne, Sir T.,see Danby 



PALATINATE, wasting of, 235 ; 
Parlement cf Paris, original 
constitution and later privileges 
of, 13 ; opposes Richelieu and the 
King, 14; selfishness of, id., 31 ; 
did not correspond with English 
Parliament, 15; regains power 
after Richelieu's death, 17; en- 
croachments of, 26, 28; sends 
deputies to Chamber cf St. Louis, 
29 ; insists on release of Broussel 
and Blancmesnil, 38; its decrees 
annulled by the court, 40; refuses 
to retire to Montargis, 43; de- 
mands dismissal of Mazarin, id. ; 
refuses to admit the King's herald, 
45; treats with the court, 46; its 
right to take part in state affairs 
admitted, 47: allies itself to 
Conde, 64; suspends its sittings, 
70: summoned to Pontoise, 71 ; 
coerced by Mazarin and Louis, 
72, 76; of Pontoise, 71 



REG 

Parlements, depressed by Riche- 
lieu, 13 

Parliament, Convention, 88-99; 
Pensionary, its composition, 99 ; 
early measures of, 99-101 ; refuses 
to increase the royal revenue, 
101 ; opposes toleration, 175 and 
J>assim ; why called ' pensionary,' 
244, 254 ; claims control of foreign 
alliances, 257 ; insists on disband- 
ing, 266 ; Long, influence in 
France, 15, 34 

Paulette, the, 27 

Penn, William, prosecution of, and 
rights of juries, 183 

Perpetual edict, 208; abrogated, 219 

Petits-maitres, 25 

Philip IV. of Spain secures support 
of Leopold, 123 ; death of, 124 ; 
will of, 125 

Portugal, defeats Spain at Elvas, 
81; assisted by r ranee against 
Spain, 85 ; independence not 
recognised by Spain at Peace 
of Pyrenees, id. ; marriage of 
Charles II. with Infanta of, 113: 
cessions of, to England, id. ; as- 
sisted by France and England, id.; 
defeats Spain, 124 ; treaty with 
France, 147 

Prayer Book, revised, 103 

Presbyterians, feelings of, at Res- 
toration, 96; kept in play by the 
court, id.; discussion with Angli- 
can divines, id. ; influence of in 
the state destroyed by the Cor- 
poration Act, 101 ; in the Church 
by the Act of Uniformity, ic2 ; 
refuse conditions of Act of Uni- 
formity, 104 

Privy Council, composition of, at 
the Restoration, 91 

Protestant Dissenters, bill for ease 

of, 231, 232 
Prynne, opposes abolition of feudal 

tenures, 96 
Pyrenees, Peace of, 82-88; general 
r effect of, 87 



Q 



UAKERS, persecution of, 131, 
183 



R ACHAT,' the, 26 
Raleigh, Sir W., his memoir 
to James 1., 117 
Regicides, doctrine laid down by 
Bridgeman at the trial of the, 93 



Index. 



289 



REM 

Remontrances, droit de, claimed 
by the Parlement of Paris, 14 

Republic, the Dutch, constitution 
of, 113-116; defect in, 114; su- 
premacy of Holland in, 115 ; com- 
mercial empire of, n 6-1 18; effect 
of Act of Navigation upon, 119 ; 
war with England, id. ; treaty 
with England, 1654, id.; import- 
ance of her neutrality to Louis, 
120; treaty with France, 120; 
jealous of the power of France, 
121 ; treaty with England, 1662, 
133 ; causes of quarrel with Eng- 
land, 134; preparations of, for 
war, 135; alliances, 139; deceived 
by France, 140 ; reaction in favour 
of the Orange House, 142; peace 
with England, 145; Triple Alli- 
ance of England, Sweden, and 
— , 166; Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 
171; insulted by Louis, 189; war 
declared against her by England, 
207; recovery from the first war, 
id; thriftiness of, 211; alliance 
with the Grand Elector, id., and 
with Spain, id. ; unprepared state 
of, id. ; saved on land by opening 
thesluices,2i5; on sea by Ruyter, 
217; reaction in favour of William, 
218; refuses Louis's terms, 222 ; 
alliance with Leopold, 224; con- 
fidence of, 227; treaties with 
Leopold, Spain, Lorraine, 228 ; 
peace with England, id. ; firm 
tone of, 241 ; jealousy of William 
in, 243; demands peace, 253 ; re- 
action against peace, 257; treaty 
with England, 260 ; determines 
on separate peace with Louis, 
263; sends a deputation to Louis, 
265: dissatisfaction with Louis 
nearly leads to renewal of war, 
267 ; favourable peace with France 
at Nimwegen, 269 

Restoration, first of Parliament, 
then of monarchy, 88 ; on suffer- 
ance, 90; settlement of land and 
church at, 94, 97 ; new principles 
established at, 93, 96 

Rethel, captured by Turenne, 59 ; 
Turenne defeated at, 61 

Retz, Cardinal de, his description 
of Richelieu and Mazarin, 18 ; 
early career and character of, 36 ; 
principal instigator of the Fron- 
deurs, 39 and passim ; influence 



RUY 

over Conde, 40 ; raises regiment 
of cavalry, 43; intrigues with 
Spain, 45; refuses to see Mazarin, 
50 ; indicted by Conde for con- 
spiracy, 54; promised nomination 
to a cardinalate, 55 ; attacks 
Mazarin before the Parlement, 
63 ; arrested, 72 

Rhine, freedom of navigation estab- 
lished at Peace of Westphalia, 5 

Richelieu, Cardinal de, design for 
Spanish Low Countries, 6, 120; 
determines to make the monarchy 
supreme, 9; struggle with the 
governors of provinces, 10; re- 
vives the Intendancies, id. ; de- 
presses the noblesse, n ; his 'Tes- 
tament politique,' id.; destroys the 
castles, id, ; maintains the Galli- 
can liberties, but makes the 
Church subservient to the Crown, 
12 ; depresses the local governing 
bodies, 13; the declaration of 
1641, 14; summary of his work, 
16; creates the prime minister- 
ship ; id. ; death, id. ; enmity of 
Queen to, 17; comparison with 
Mazarin, 18 

Robartes, Lord, Viceroy of Ireland 
at the Restoration, 91 

Rocroy, battle of, 19 

' Royal Charles,' the, captured by 
the Dutch, 145 ; name altered by 
De Witt, 209 

Rupert, Prince, in command with 
Monk at the four days' battle, 
141 ; is not told of the first Treaty 
of Dover, 193; at times included 
in the Cabal, 2^2; defeated by 
Ruyter and Tromp, 226; heads 
the anti-French party, 234 

Ruvigny, French ambassador in 
London, 163; replaced by Col- 
bert, 187; fails to create French 
party in England, 249 ; allies 
himself with Shaftesbury, 249 

Ruyter, on the African coast, 134 ; 
arrives with the Guinea squadron, 
136; defeats England in the four 
days' battle, 141; defeated by 
Monk, 142 ; sa -ip the Thames, 
145, 209; defea. Tames in the 
battle of Southwol. 'ay, 217, 223; 
defeats Rupert on August 14 and 
21, 1673, 227 ; defeated by Du- 
quesne in the Bay of Palermo, 
252; death of, 253 



290 



Index. 



SAV 

SAVOY Palace, conference at the, 
98 
Scheldt, closure of the, 8, 122 
Schomberg, commands in Portugal, 
124; commands the forces on 
English fleet, 226 ; commands 
standing army in England, 234 ; 
in Roussiilon, 238 
Seneff, battle of, 238 
Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley 
Cooper, first Earl of, supports the 
abolition of the feudal tenures, 96; 
(Lord Ashley) opposes Corpora- 
tion Act, 101 ; plots against Clar- 
endon, 156; ignorant of first 
Treaty of Dover, 193 ; signs the 
second treaty, 195 ; one of the 
Cabal, 201 ; character of, 202 ; 
supports the Declaration of Indul- 
gence, 207; created Earl of 
Shaftesbury and Lord Chancellor, 
id. ; dismissed ; 236 ; leads an 
organised opposition against the 
court, id. ; his ' Delenda est Car- 
thago' speech, 230; urges a di- 
vorce upon the King, 240; his 
letter to Lord Carlisle, 244 ; op- 
poses the Non-resisting Test Act, 
246; foments a quarrel between 
the Houses, id., 250 ; declares the 
Parliament dissolved, 254 ; sent to 
the Tower, 255; alliance of his 
party with Louis and the Catho- 
lics against Danby, 249, 253, 261 
Sheldon, Bishop of London and 
Archbishop of Canterbury, op- 
poses toleration, 104, 127 
Skinner, the controversy, 176, 178, 

180 
Southampton, Earl of, Lord Treas- 
urer, opposes the Corporation 
Act, 101 ; opposes Charles's claim 
to the dispensing power, 103 
South wold Bay, battle of, 217 
Spain, weakness of, 1 ; refuses 
French terms, 1646, 7; makes 
peace with the Dutch to save her 
Low Countries, id. ; loses military 
supremacy at Rocroy, 19; takes 
Courtrai, 28; sends an envoy to 
the Frondeurs, 45; takes Ypres 
and St. Venant, 49 ; resisted by 
Mazarin, id. ; alliance with the 
Frondeurs, 58 ; takes Catelet, 59 ; 
other successes, 59, 70, 74 ; arrests 
Duke of Lorraine, 76; refuses 
Cromwell's terms, 77 ; prepares to 



SWE 
assist Charles II. of England, 78; 
powerless after the battle of the 
Dunes, 81 ; law of succession in, 
83 : refuses to recognise the inde- 
pendence of Portugal, 86 ; refuses 
terms of Charles II., 106; claims 
of Louis XIV. to the succession, 
in; endeavours to obtain an 
alliance with France, 113; and 
with Dutch, 121 ; desperate state 
of, 123; defeated by Portugal, 
124 ; refuses Charles's terms, 165 ; 
debt to Sweden, and poverty, 168 ; 
peace with Portugal, 169; accepts 
the second 'alternative,' 171; 
pride and dilatoriness, id. ; alli- 
ance with the Dutch, 227; bribes 
the English Parliament, 244; con- 
curs in Treaty of Nimwegen, 267; 
peace with France, 271 
Spanish Low Countries, various 
proposals regarding, 6, 7, 121 ; 
saved to Spain by her treaty with 
the Dutch, 7; French conquests 
in, 78-81 ; Louis's claim to, 112 ; a 
barrier between the United Pro- 
vinces and France, 120; Louis's 
claim to, rejected by De Witt and 
Spain, 121, 122; Castel Rodrigo's 
government of, 124 ; Louis's pre- 
parations for invasion 0^146-150; 
invasion, 149; part of the ' circle' 
of Burgundy, 151 ; Louis's 'alter- 
natives' regarding, 154; partial 
possession by France at Peace of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, 172; settlement 
of at Peace of Nimwegen, 271 
Stenai, government of, ceded to 
Conde, 42 ; in hands of Turenne, 
54; the only French town in the 
hands of the rebels, 58, 62 ; cap- 
ture of by the royal troops, 74 
Sweden, acquisitions of, and posi- 
tion after Peace of Westphalia, 7; 
secured by Louis, 152; Lionne's 
arrogance to, 153 ; joins the Triple 
Alliance, 168; her claims upon 
Spain, id., 189; detached from 
the Triple Alliance by Louis, 196; 
her jealousy of Denmark, id., 226; 
offers mediation, id. ; defeated by 
the Grand Elector, 248; and by 
the Dutch and Danish fleets, id. ; 
Louis's fidelity to, 268; her claims 
nearly cause a renewal of war, 
id. ; her part in the Peace of 
Nimwegen, 273 



Index. 



291 



swi 

Switzerland, detached from the Em- 
pire at Peace of Westphalia, 8 ; 
her sympathywith the Dutch, 224 



^pAILLE, hardships of the, 22 ; 
■*■ diminished, 34 
Talon, Omer, president of the Par- 

lement of Paris, 26 
Tangier, ceded to England by Por- 
tugal, 107; cost of, 109 
Taxe des aisls, 22 ; withdrawn, 23 
Temple, Sir W., suggests the Triple 
Alliance, 163; outwits D'Estrades, 
167; ambassador to the Hague, 
186; repudiated by Charles, 187 ; 
recalled, 210; opinion regarding 
Louis's enterprise on the United 
Provinces, 212; at the congress 
ofNimwegen, 252; endeavours to 
secure the continuance of war, 
264, 269, 270 ; negotiates a treaty 
with the Dutch, 268 
Test Act, 232 ; alteration in, 232 ; 
effect of, 233 ; Clifford's speech 
against, id. 
Test, the Non-resisting, 246 
Toulouse, disturbance at, 27 
Treves, Elector of, intrigues with 
the Duke of Lorraine, 199 ; joins 
the second coalition against Louis, 
228 ; (city) capture of by the Duke 
of Lorraine, 248 
Triennial Act, changes in, 129 
Triple Alliance, 166; secret article 
of, 167; Charles's view regarding, 
168; effect on Louis, 169; causes 
tending to weaken, 185 
Tromp, sails down the Channel with 
a broom at his masthead, 119 ; at 
the battle of Lowestoft, 137 ; at 
the four days' battle, 141 
Turenne, superior to Conde, 44 ; 
opposes the court, id. ; retires to 
Holland, id. ; at Stenai, 56 ; forms 
a treaty with Spain, 58 ; defeated 
at Rethel, 65; joins the royal 
cause, 67; defeats Beaufort at 
Jargeau, 68; saves the court at 
Bleneau, id.; wins the battle of 
Etampes,69; in the United Prov- 
inces, 214, 215, 223; defeats the 
allies, 224 ; Louvois's jealousy of, 
225; outmanoeuvred by William, 
228 ; celebrated campaign of the 
Vosges, 1674, 239 ; death of, at 
Sasbach, 248 



u 



WIL 
TNIFORMITY, Act of, 102; 
special hardships of, 103 ; op- 
posed by Charles and Clarendon, 
104; by Monk and Manchester, 
id. ; action of Bishops and Pres- 
byterians at, id. ; difficulties in 
execution of, 105 

Union, bond of, 28 

United Provinces, see Republic; 
independence of secured at the 
Treaty of Munster, 8 



VALENCIENNES, battle ofj y8 . 
* taken by Louis, 258 
Vendome, Duke of, one of the ' Im- 

portants,' 20 ; exiled, id. ; secured 

by Mazarin, 51 
Villa Viciosa, battle of, 124 
Vosges, Turenne's campaign on the , 

239 



WAR, the Twelve Weeks,' 43-8 
Ward, Seth, Bishop of Exeter, 
describes the difficulties of carry- 
out the Act of Uniformity, 105 

Westminster, Treaty of, 78 

Westphalia, Peace of, 1-8 

William of Orange, nephew and 
ward of Charles II., 116; adopted 
as the child of the Republic, 143 ; 
character, id. ; instructed by De 
Witt, 208; supported by Louis 
and Charles against De Witt, id. ; 
captain-general, 211 ; neglects to 
defend the Rhine, 214; shelters 
the assailants of De Witt, 218,220; 
proclaimed Stadtholder of Zea- 
land and Holland, 222; reply to 
the English commissioners, id. ; 
invests Charleroi, retreats to Am- 
sterdam, 225; reply to Louis and 
Charles, 227; captures Bonn, 228; 
defeated by Conde at SenefF, 238 ; 
influence in England, proposed 
visit declined, 241; his offices 
made hereditary, 248; refuses 
sovereign power in Guelders, 243 ; 
fails at Maestricht, 253 ; refuses a 
separate peace with Louis, id.; 
difficult position 0^257; marriage 
with Mary, 259; his proposals to 
Louis, 259 ; suspicion caused by 
his marriage, 261,263; endeavours 
to frustrate peace, 264, 270 ; re- 
gains ascendancy in the Republic, 



292 



Index. 



WIT 

267 ; battle of St. Denys, 270 ; 
hatred of France, 277 
Witt, John de, Grand Pensionary 
of Holland, 116; heads the mer- 
chant oligarchy, id. ; forms a 
treaty with Louis, 120 ; outwits 
Louis, 121 ; rejects Louis's claim 
to the Spanish Low Countries, 
122; his difficulties, 122, 143; 
sends the Dutch fleet up the 
Thames, 145; his objects at the 
Triple Alliance, 163 ; obtains the 



WIT 

Perpetual Edict, 166; sends Van 
Beuninghen to London to frus- 
trate the Treaty of Dover, 192 ; 
unwillingness to believe in danger, 
208 ; endeavours to avoid war, 
210; his projects frustrated, 213 ; 
reaction against him, 218; at- 
tacked, 218 ; murdered, 219 
— Cornelius de, with the Dutch fleet 
in the Thames, 144 ; at the battle 
of Southwold Bay, 217 ; tortured, 
218; murdered, 219 



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Hamilton Coll., Clinton, N. Y. 
Doane Coll., Crete, Neb. 
Princeton College, Princeton, N.J. 
Williams Coll., Williamstown, Mass. 
Cornell Univ., Ithaca, N. Y. 
Illinois Coll., Jacksonville, 111. 



Univ. of South, Sewaunee, Tenn. 
Wesleyan Univ., Mt. Pleasant, la. 



Berkeley, Cal. 
Columbia, S. C. 
Acad., Amsterdam, 



Univ. of Cal. 
So. Car. Coll 
Amsterdam 

N. Y. 
Carleton Coll., Northfield, Minn. 
Wesleyan Univ., Middletown, Mass. 
Albion Coll., Albion, Mich. 
Dartmouth Coll., Hanover, N. H. 
Wilmington Coll., Wilmington, O. 
Madison Univ., Hamilton, N. Y. 
Syracuse Univ., Syracuse, N. Y. 
Univ. of Wis., Madison, Wis. 
Union Coll., Schenectady, N. Y. 
Norwich Free Acad., Norwich, Conn. 
Greenwich Acad., Greenwich, Conn. 
Univ. of Neb., Lincoln, Neb. 
Kalamazoo Coll., Kalamazoo, Mich. 
Olivet Coll., Olivet, Mich. 
Amherst Coll., Amherst, Mass. 
Ohio State Univ., Columbus, O. 
Free Schools, Oswego, N. Y. 



Bishop J. F. Hurst, ex- President of Drew Theol. Sem. 
" It appears to me that the idea of Morris in his Epochs is 
strictly in harmony with the philosophy of history — namely, that 
great movements should be treated not according to narrow 
geographical and national limits and distinction, but universally, 
according to their place in the general life of the world. The 
historical Maps and the copious Indices are welcome additions 
to the volumes." 



EPOCHS OF ANCIENT 
HISTORY. 

A SERIES OF BOOKS NARRATING THE HISTORY OF 

GREECE AND ROME, AND OF THEIR RELATIONS TO 

OTHER COUNTRIES AT SUCCESSIVE EPOCHS. 

Edited by 

Rev. G. W. Cox and Charles Sankey, M.A. 

Eleven volumes, i6mo, with 41 Maps and Plans. 

Sold separately. Price per vol., $1.00. 

The Set, Roxburgh style, gilt top, in box, $11.00. 



TROY— ITS LEGEND, HISTORY, AND 
LITERATURE. By S. G. W. Benjamin. 

" The task of the author has been to gather into a clear 
and very readable narrative all that is known of legendary, 
historical, and geographical Troy, and to tell the story of 
Homer, and weigh and compare the different theories in the 
Homeric controversy. The work is well done. His book is 
altogether candid, and is a very valuable and entertaining 
compendium. " — Hartford Courant. 

"As a monograph on Troy, covering all sides of the ques- 
tion, it is of great value, and supplies a long vacant place in 
our fund of classical knowledge." — N. Y. Christian Advocate. 

THE GREEKS AND THE PERSIANS. By 

Rev G. W. Cox. 

"It covers the ground in a perfectly satisfactory wav. 
The work is clear, succinct, and readable." — New York 
Independent. 

" Marked by thorough and comprehensive scholarship and 
by a skillful style." — Congregationalist. 

"It would be hard to find a more creditable book. The 
author's prefatory remarks upon the origin and growth of 
Greek civilization are alone worth the price of the volume.' 
— Christian Union. 



EPOCHS OF ANCIENT HISTORY 

THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE— From the Flight 
of Xerxes to the Fall of Athens. By Rev. 
G. W. Cox. 

"Mr. Cox writes in such a way as to bring before the 
reader everything which is important to be known or learned; 
and his narrative cannot fail to give a good idea of the men 
and deeds with which he is concerned." — The Churchman. 

"Mr. Cox has done his work with the honesty of a true 
student. It shows persevering scholarship and a desire to 
get at the truth." — New York Herald. 

THE SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMA- 
CIES. By Charles Sankey, M.A. 

" This volume covers the period between the disasters of 
Athens at the close of the Pelopenesian war and the rise of 
Macedon. It is a very striking and instructive picture of the 
political life of the Grecian commonwealth at that time." — 
The Churchman. 

"It is singularly interesting to read, and in respect to 
arrangement, maps, etc., is all that can be desired." — Bostqn 
Congregationalist. 

THE MACEDONIAN EMPIRE-Its Rise and 
Culmination to Death of Alexander the 
Great. By A. M. Curteis, M.A. 

"A good and satisfactory history of a very important period. 
The maps are excellent, and the story is lucidly and vigor- 
ously told." — The Nation. 

" The same compressive style and yet completeness of 
detail that have characterized the previous issues in this 
delightful series, are found in this volume. Certainly the art 
of conciseness in writing was never carried to a higher or 
more effective point." — Boston Saturday Evening Gazette. 

**# The above Jive volumes give a connected and complete 
history of Greece from the earliest times to the death of 
A lexander. 



EPOCHS OF ANCIENT HISTORY 



EARLY ROME— From the Foundation of the 
City to its Destruction by the Gauls. By 
W. Ihne, Ph.D. 

" Those who want to know the truth instead of the tra- 
ditions that used to be learned of our fathers, will find in ''ye 
work entertainment, careful scholarship, and sound sense. 4 — 
Cincinnati Times. 

" The book is excellently well done. The views are those 
of a learned and able man, and they are presented in this 
volume with great force and clearness." — The Nation. 

ROME AND CARTHAGE— The Punic Wars. 

By R. Bosworth Smith. 

" By blending the account of Rome and Carthage the ac- 
complished author presents a succinct and vivid picture of 
two great cities and people which leaves a deep impression. 
The story is full of intrinsic interest, and was never better 
told." — Christian Union. 

" The volume is one of rare interest and value." — Chicago 
Interior. 

"An admirably condensed history of Carthage, from its 
establishment by the adventurous Phoenician traders to its 
sad and disastrous fall." — New York Herald. 

THE GRACCHI, MARIUS, AND SULLA. By 

A. H. Beesley. 

" A concise and scholarly historical sketch, descriptive of 
the decay of the Roman Republic, and the events which paved 
the way for the advent of the conquering Caesar. It is an 
excellent account of the leaders and legislation of the repub- 
lic." — Boston Post. 

" It is prepared in succinct but comprehensive style, and is 
an excellent book for reading and reference." — New York 
Observer. 

" No better condensed account of the two Gracchi and the 
turbulent careers of Marius and Sulla has yet appeared." — 
New York Independent. 



EPOCHS OF ANCIENT HISTORY 

THE ROMAN TRIUMVIRATES. By the Very Rev. 
Charles Merivale, D.D. 

" In brevity, clear and scholarly treatment of the subject, 
and the convenience of map, index, and side notes, the 
volume is a model." — New York Tribune. 

" An admirable presentation, and in style vigorous and 
picturesque." — Hartford Courant. 

THE EARLY EMPIRE— From the Assassina- 
tion of Julius Caesar to the Assassination 
of Domitian. By Rev. W. Wolfe Capes, M. A. 

" It is written with great clearness and simplicity of style, 
and is as attractive an account as has ever been given in 
brief of one of the most interesting periods of Roman 
History." — Boston Saturday Evening Gazette. 

"It is a clear, well-proportioned, and trustworthy perfor- 
mance, and well deserves to be studied." — Christian at 
Work. 

THE AGE OF THE ANTONINES— The Roman 

Empire of the Second Century. By Rev. 
W. Wolfe Capes, M.A. 

" The Roman Empire during the second century is the 
broad subject discussed in this book, and discussed with 
learning and intelligence." — New York Independent. 

" The writer's diction is clear and elegant, and his narra- 
tion is free from any touch of pedantry. In the treatment of 
its prolific and interesting theme, and in its general plan, the 
book is a model of works of its class." — New York Herald. 

"We are glad to commend it. It is written clearly, and 
with care and accuracy. It is also in such neat and compact 
form as to be the more attractive." — Congregationalist. 

*#* The above six volumes give the History of Rome from 
the founding of the City to the death of Marcus Aurelius 
Antoninus. 



EPOCHS OF MODERN 
HISTORY. 

A SERIES OF BOOKS NARRATING THE HISTORY OF 

ENGLAND AND EUROPE AT SUCCESSIVE EPOCHS 

SUBSEQUENT TO THE CHRISTIAN ERA. 

Edited by 

Edward E. Morris. 

Eighteen volumes, i6mo, with 74 Maps, Plans, and Tables* 

Sold separately. Price per vol., $1.00. 

The Set, Roxburgh style, gilt top, in box, $18.00. 



THE BEGINNING OF THE MIDDLE AGES— 
England and Europe in the Ninth Century. 
By the Very Rev. R. W. Church, M.A. 

"A remarkably thoughtful and satisfactory discussion of 
the causes and results of the vast changes which came upon 
Europe during the period discussed. The book is adapted to 
be exceedingly serviceable." — Chicago Standard. 

"At once readable and valuable. It is comprehensive and 
yet gives the details of a period most interesting to the student 
of history. " — Herald and Presbyter. 

"It is written with a clearness and vividness of statement 
which make it the pleasantest reading. It represents a great 
deal of patient research, and is careful and scholarly." — ■ 
Boston Journal. 

THE NORMANS IN EUROPE— The Feudal 
System and England under the Norman 
Kings. By Rev. A. H. Johnson, M.A. 

" Its pictures of the Normans in their home, of the Scan- 
dinavian exodus, the conquest of England, and Norman 
administration, are full of vigor and cannot fail of holding the 
reader's attention." — Episcopal Register. 

" The style of the author is vigorous and animated, and he 
has given a valuable sketch of the origin and progress of the 
great Northern movement that has shaped the history of 
modern Europe." — Boston Transcript. 



EPOCHS OF MODERN- HISTORY 

THE CRUSADES. By Rev. G. W. Cox. 

" To be warmly commended for important qualities. The 
author shows conscientious fidelity to the materials, and such 
skill in the use of them, that, as a result, the reader has 
before him a narrative related in a style that makes it truly 
fascinating." — Congregationalist. 

"It is written in a pure and flowing style, and its arrange- 
ment and treatment of subject are exceptional." — Christian 
Intelligencer. 

THE EARLY P L A N T AG EN ETS-Their 
Relation to the History of Europe; The 
Foundation and Growth of Constitutional 
Government. By Rev. W. Stubbs, M.A. 

"Nothing could be desired more clear, succinct, and well 
arranged. All parts of the book are well done. It may be 
pronounced the best existing brief history of the constitution 
for this, its most important period." — The Nation. 

"Prof. Stubbs has presented leading events with such fair- 
ness and wisdom as are seldom found. He is remarkably 
clear aad satisfactory." — The Churchman. 

EDWARD III. By Rev. W. Warburton, M.A. 

" The author has done his work well, and we commend it 
as containing in small space all essential matter." — New York 
Independent. 

" Events and movements are admirably condensed by the 
author, and presented in such attractive form as to entertain 
as well as instruct." — Chicago Interior. 

THE HOUSES OF LANCASTER AND YORK 
—The Conquest and Loss of France. By 

James Gairdner. 

"Prepared in a most careful and thorough manner, and 
ought to be read by every student. " — New York Times. 

"It leaves nothing to be desired as regards compactness, 
accuracy, and excellence of literary execution." — Boston 
Journal. 






EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY 



THE ERA OF THE PROTESTANT REVO- 
LUTION. By Frederic Seebohm. With Notes, on 
Books in English relating to the Reformation, by Prof. 
George P. Fisher, D.D. 

"For an impartial record of the civil and ecclesiastical 
changes about four hundred years ago, we cannot commend a 
better manual." — Sunday- School Times. 

"All that could be desired, as well in execution as in plan. 
The narrative is animated, and the selection and grouping of 
events skillful and effective." — The Nation. 

THE EARLY TUDORS— Henry VII., Henry 
VIII. By Rev. C. E. Moberley, M.A., late Master in 
Rugby School. 

"Is concise, scholarly, and accurate. On the epoch of which 
it treats, we know of no work which equals it." — N. Y. Observer. 

" A marvel of clear and succinct brevity and good historical 
judgment. There is hardly a better book of its kind to be 
named." — New York Independent. 

THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. By Rev. M. 
Creighton, M.A. 

"Clear and compact in style ; careful in their facts, and 
just in interpretation of them. It sheds much light on the 
progress of the Reformation and the origin of the Popish 
reaction during Queen Elizabeth's reign ; also, the relation of 
Jesuitism to the latter." — Presbyterian Review. 

" A clear, concise, and just story of an era crowded with 
events of interest and importance."— New Ycrk World. 

THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR— 161 8-1 648. 

By Samuel Rawson Gardiner. 

" As a manual it will prove of the greatest practical value, 
while to the general reader it will afford a clear and interesting 
account of events. We know of no more spirited and attractive 
recital of the great era." — Boston Saturday Evening Gazette. 

" The thrilling story of those times has never been told so 
vividly or succinctly as in this volume." — Episcopal Register. 



J 






I 



EPOCHS OF MODERN- HISTORY. 

THE PURITAN REVOLUTION; and the First 
Two Stuarts, 1 603- 1 660. By Samuel Rawson 
Gardiner. 

" The narrative is condensed and brief, yet sufficiently com- 
prehensive to give an adequate view of the events related." 
— Chicago Standard. 

" Mr. Gardiner uses his researches in an admirably clear 
and fair way " — Congregalionalisl. 

1 ' The ^ketcn Is concise, but clear and perfectly intelligible." 
—Hartford Courant. 

THE ENGLISH RESTORATION AND LOUIS 
XIV., from the Peace of Westphalia to the 
Peace of Nimwegen. By Osmund Airy, M. A. 

4 • It is crisply and admirably written. An immense amount 
of information is conveyed and with great clearness, the 
arrangement of the subjects showing great skill and a thor- 
ough command of the complicated theme." — Boston Saturday 
Evening Gazette. 

"The author writes with fairness and discrimination, and 
has given a clear and intelligible presentation of the time." — 
New York Evangelist. 

THE FALL OF THE STUARTS; and Western 
Europe. By Rev. Edward Hale, M.A. 

" A valuable compend to the general reader and scholar." 
— Providence Journal. 

"It will be found of great value. It is a very graphic 

account of the history of Europe during the 17th century, 

and is admirably adapted for the use of students." — Boston 

Saturday Evening Gazette. 

' 'An admirable handbook for the student. " — The Churchman. 

THE AGE OF ANNE. By Edward E. Morris, M.A. 

"The author's arrangement of the material is remarkably 
clear, his selection and adjustment of the facts judicious, his 
historical judgment fair and candid, while the style wins by 
its simple elegance." — Chicago Standard. 

"An excellent compendium of the history of an important 
period." — The Watchman. 



i 



i 



EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY. 

THE EARLY HANOVERIANS— Europe from 
the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Aix- 
la-Chapelle. By Edward E. Morris, M.A. 

" Masterly, condensed, and vigorous, this is one of the 
books which it is a delight to read at odd moments ; which 
are broad and suggestive, and at the same time condensed in 
treatment. " — Christian Advocate. 

"A remarkably clear and readable summary of the salient 
points of interest. The maps and tables, no less than the 
author's style and treatment of the subject, entitle the volume 
to the highest claims of recognition." — Boston Daily Ad- 
vertiser. 

FREDERICK THE GREAT, AND THE SEVEN 
YEARS' WAR. By F. W. Longman. 

" The subject is most important, and the author has treated 
it in a way which is both scholarly and entertaining." — The 
Churchman. 

"Admirably adapted to interest school boys, and older 
heads will find it pleasant reading. " — New York Tribune. 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, AND FIRST 
EMPIRE. By William O'Connor Morris. With 
Appendix by Andrew D. White, LL.D., ex-President of 
Cornell University. 

"We have long needed a simple compendium of this period, 
and we have here one which is brief enough to be easily run 
through with, and yet particular enough to make entertaining 
reading." — New York Evening Post. 

" The author has well accomplished his difficult task of 
sketching in miniature the grand and crowded drama of the 
French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire, showing 
himself to be no servile compiler, but capable of judicious 
and independent criticism." — Springfield Republican. 

THE EPOCH OF REFORM— 1 830-1 850. By 

Justin McCarthy. 

" Mr. McCarthy knows the period of which he writes 
thoroughly, and the result is a narrative that is at once enter- 
taining and trustworthy." — New York Examiner. 

" The narrative is clear and comprehensive, and told with 
abundant knowledge and grasp of the subject." — Boston 
Courier. 



/ 



7 
J 



IMPORTANT HISTORICAL 
WORKS. 

CIVILIZATION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 
Especially in its Relation to Modern Civil- 
ization. By George B. Adams, Professor of History in 
Yale University. 8vo, $2.50. 

Professor Adams has here supplied the need of a text-book 
for the study of Mediaeval History in college classes at once 
thorough and yet capable of being handled in the time usually 
allowed to it. He has aimed to treat the subject in a manner 
which its place in the college curriculum demands, by present- 
ing as clear a view as possible of the underlying and organic 
growth of our civilization, how its foundations were laid and its 
chief elements introduced. 

Prof. Kendric C. Babcock, University of Minnesota : — "It 
is one of the best books of the kind which I have seen. We 
shall use it the coming term." 

Prof. Marshall S. Brown, Michigan University: — "I 
regard the work as a very valuable treatment of the great 
movements of history during the Middle Ages, and as one 
destined to be extremely helpful to young students. ' ' 

Boston Herald: — "Professor Adams admirably presents 
the leading features of a thousand years of social, political, 
and religious development in the history of the world. It is 
valuable from beginning to end." 

HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. By E. 

Benjamin Andrews, D.D., LL.D., President of Brown 
University. With maps. Two vols., crown octavo, $4.00. 

Boston Advertiser : — " We doubt if there has been so 
complete, graphic, and so thoroughly impartial a history of our 
country condensed into the same space. It must become a 
standard." 

Advance: — "One of the best popular, general histories of 
America, if not the best." 

Herald and Presbyter : — " The very history that many 
people have been looking for. It does not consist simply of 
minute statements, but treats of causes and effects with philo- 
sophical grasp and thoughtfulness. It is the work of a scholar 
and thinker." 



IMPORTANT HISTORICAL WORKS. 

THE DAWN OF HISTORY. An Introduction 
to Pre-Historic Study. New and Enlarged Edition. 
Edited by C. F. Keary. i2mo, cloth, $1.25. 

This work treats successively of the earliest traces of man ; 
of language, its growth, and the story it tells of the pre- his- 
toric users of it ; of early social life, the religions, mythologies, 
and folk-tales, and of the history of writing. The present 
edition contains about one hundred pages of new matter, 
embodying the results of the latest researches. 

"A fascinating manual. In its way, the work is a model 
of what a popular scientific work should be." — Boston Sat. 
Eve. Gazette. 

THE ORIGIN OF NATIONS. By Professor George 
Rawlinson, M.A. i2mo, with maps, $1.00. 

The first part of this book discusses the antiquity of civiliza- 
tion in Egypt and the other early nations of the East. The 
second part is an examination of the ethnology of Genesis, 
showing its accordance with the latest results of modern 
ethnographical science. 

"A work of genuine scholarly excellence, and a useful 
offset to a great deal of the superficial current literature on 
such subj ects. " — Congregationalist. 

MANUAL OF MYTHOLOGY. For the Use 
of Schools, Art Students, and General 
Readers. Founded on the Works of Pet- 
iscus, Preller, and Welcker. By Alexander 
S. Murray, Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 
British Museum. With 45 Plates. Reprinted from the 
Second Revised London Edition. Crown 8vo, $1.75. 

" It has been acknowledged the best work on the subject 
to be found in a concise form, and as it embodies the results 
of the latest researches and discoveries in ancient mythologies, 
it is superior for school and general purposes as a handbook 
to any of the so-called standard works." — Cleveland Herald. 

" Whether as a manual for reference, a text-book for school 
use, or for the general reader, the book will be found very 
valuable and interesting." — Boston Journal. 



IMPORTANT HISTORICAL WORKS. 

THE HISTORY OF ROME, from the Earliest 
Time to the Period of Its Decline. By Dr. 

Theodor Mommsen. Translated by W. P. Dickson, D.D., 
LL.D. A New Edition, Revised throughout, and embodying 
recent additions. Five vols., with Map. Price per set, $10.00. 

"A work of the very highest merit; its learning is exact 
and profound ; its narrative full of genius and skill ; its 
descriptions of men are admirably vivid." — London Times. 

"Since the days of Niebuhr, no work on Roman History 
has appeared that combines so much to attract, instruct, and 
charm the reader. Its style — a rare quality in a German 
author — is vigorous, spirited, and animated." — Dr. Schmitz. 

THE PROVINCES OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
From Caesar to Diocletian. By Theodor 
Mommsen. Translated by William P. Dickson, D.D., 
LL.D. With maps. Two vols., 8vo, $6.00. 

" The author draws the wonderfully rich and varied picture 
of the conquest and administration of that great circle of 
peoples and lands which formed the empire of Rome outside 
of Italy, their agriculture, trade, and manufactures, their 
artistic and scientific life, through all degrees of civilization, 
with such detail and completeness as could have come from 
no other hand than that of this great master of historical re- 
search." — Prof. W. A. Packard, Princeton College. 

THE HISTORY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

Abridged from the History by Professor Theodor Mommsen, 
by C. Bryans and F. J. R. Hendy. i2mo, $1.75. 

" It is a genuine boon that the essential parts of Mommsen's 
Rome are thus brought within the easy reach of all, and the 
abridgment seems to me to preserve unusually well the glow 
and movement of the original." — Prof. Tracy Peck, Yale 
University. 

"The condensation has been accurately and judiciously 
effected. I heartily commend the volume as the most adequate 
embodiment, in a single volume, of the main results of modern 
historical research in the field of Roman affairs." — Prof. 
Henry M. Baird, University of City of New York. 



IMPORTANT HISTORICAL WORKS. 

THE HISTORY OF GREECE. By Prof. Dr. 
Ernst Curtius. Translated by Adolphus William Ward, 
M.A., Fellow of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, Prof, of 
History in Owen's College, Manchester. Five volumes, 
crown 8vo. Price per set, $10.00. 

" We cannot express our opinion of Dr. Curtius' book bet- 
ter than by saying that it may be fitly ranked with Theodor 
Momrasen's great work." — London Spectator. 

"As an introduction to the study of Grecian history, no 
previous work is comparable to the present for vivacity and 
picturesque beauty, while in sound learning and accuracy of 
statement it is not inferior to the elaborate productions which 
enrich the literature of the age." — N. Y. Daily Tribune. 

Cv^ESAR: a Sketch. By James Anthony Froude, 
M.A. i2mo, gilt top, $1.50. 

"This book is a most fascinating biography and is by far 
the best account of Julius Caesar to be found in the English 
language. " — The London Standard. 

"He combines into a compact and nervous narrative all 
that is known of the personal, social, political, and military 
life of Caesar ; and with his sketch of Caesar includes other 
brilliant sketches of the great man, his friends, or rivals, 
who contemporaneously with him formed the principal figures 
in the Roman world." — Harper's Monthly. 

CICERO. Life of Marcus Tullius Cicero. By 

W t illiam Forsyth, M.A., Q.C. 20 Engravings. New 
Edition. 2 vols., crown 8vo, in one, gilt top, $2.50. 

The author has not only given us the most complete and 
well-balanced account of the life of Cicero ever published ; 
he has drawn an accurate and graphic picture of domestic life 
among the best classes of the Romans, one which the reader 
of general literature, as well as the student, may peruse with 
pleasure and profit. 

"A scholar without pedantry, and a Christian without cant, 
Mr. Forsyth seems to have seized with praiseworthy tact the 
precise attitude which it behooves a biographer to take when 
narrating the life, the personal life of Cicero. Mr. Forsyth 
produces what we venture to say will become one of the 
classics of English biographical literature, and will be wel- 
comed by readers of all ages and both sexes, of all professions 
and of no profession at all." — London Quarterly. 



VALUABLE WORKS ON 
CLASSICAL LITERATURE. 

THE HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE. 
From the Earliest Period to the Death of 

Marcus AureliuS. With Chronological Tables, etc., 
for the use of Students. By C. T. Cruttwell, M.A. Crown 
8vo, $2.50. 

Mr. Cruttwell's book is written throughout from a purely 
literary point of view, and the aim has been to avoid tedious 
and trivial details. The result is a volume not only suited 
for the student, but remarkably readable for all who possess 
any interest in the subject. 

" Mr. Cruttwell has given us a genuine history of Roman 
literature, not merely a descriptive list of authors and their 
productions, but a well elaborated portrayal of the successive 
stages in the intellectual development of the Romans and the 
various forms of expression which these took in literature." — 
N. Y. Nation. 

Uniform with the above. 

A HISTORY OF GREEK LITERATURE. 
From the Earliest Period of Demosthenes. 

By Frank Byron Jevons, M.A., Tutor in the University 
of Durham. Crown 8vo, $2.50. 

The author goes into detail with sufficient fullness to make 
the history complete, but he never loses sight of the com- 
manding lines along which the Greek mind moved, and a 
clear understanding of which is necessary to every intelligent 
student of universal literature. 

" It is beyond all question the best history of Greek litera- 
ture that has hitherto been published." — London Spectator. 



CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 

153-157 Fifth Avenue, New York. 



